


Full House

by KaliopeShipsIt



Series: Alliteration-Verse [15]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: According to the tag-listing this will be the 27th story with a Jackson/Aiden pairing, Aiden/Jackson Whittemore - Freeform, Angry Derek, BAMF Melissa McCall, BAMF Sheriff Stilinski, Bodyswap, Derek and Stiles Need To Use Their Words, Derek and Stiles vs. Puberty, Doctor!Aiden, Doctor!Ethan, F/M, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Inappropriate Usage of a 63 Letter German Word, Insecure Stiles, Kid Fic, M/M, Miscommunication, Mpreg, Possible Trigger Warning: Hyperemesis Gravidarum, Pregnant Derek Hale, Sibling-Jealousy, Sick Derek, Stiles Takes Care Of Derek, Stiles Will Forever Love Twilight, Teenage Drama, Teenage Rebellion, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-16
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-13 08:41:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 86,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2144271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaliopeShipsIt/pseuds/KaliopeShipsIt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hale-Stilinski family is expecting a new addition and lots of shenanigans ensue. </p><p>This picks up right where "It Takes a Village" left off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please do not put my stuff on Goodreads. I was not aware that part of my stories were on there and I am not comfortable with having my fan fics circulated out of my control. 
> 
>  
> 
> There we go - the last mpreg installment of the Alliteration Verse. At this point it looks like weekly updates though that might vary given the prompt/commenting process (as you guys know at this point, I like to work in your suggestions if they fit the overall story!)
> 
> In regards to the Trigger-Warning: I did a lot of research on HG before I started writing this and I concluded that it's pretty horrible - if you went through it and feel that I am misrepresenting it, please accept my apologies in advance, I have nothing but respect for you because seriously, reading some of these "My HG-Story" blogs was really heartbreaking.

_January 16 th 2035 (4 Weeks) _

Derek knew how werewolf biology worked. He didn’t even have to cite all the information he had learned at the male pregnancy symposium to be intimately aware of how male/male werewolf procreation worked.

Somewhere, deep inside his brain – or heart, it was probably his heart if he wanted to be sappy about it – there had been a hidden desire for a fourth child. He would never have been able to conceive otherwise, that much he knew without a doubt.

Still, knowing that he had apparently _wanted_ another baby without his actual knowledge did nothing to calm the storm of emotions brewing inside of him and by the time the nausea had finally subsided enough for him to fall asleep the night before, Derek had felt as if he was in a daze.

Stiles, who had been so wired after finding Derek in the bathroom that he had gone and burned dinner immediately afterwards – which Derek didn’t mind, since he had been feeling too nauseous to eat anyways, although the children had complained bitterly when Stiles had tried to placate them with peanut butter-jelly sandwiches - had crashed out almost instantly but Derek hadn’t been able to sleep at all for hours.

He had been in shock, plain and simple. By the time the new baby would be born Leonie would be 12, Noah would be 8 and Cas would probably be just a few weeks shy of turning 5, if the math in Derek’s admittedly fried head was correct.

Having a five-year age difference between his children wouldn’t have been such a big deal; maybe not even eight, considering Leonie and Cas’ epic sibling bond, but twelve years? By the time Leonie would be ready to go off to college this baby would still be in elementary school and before that Leonie would be in full-on puberty teenage territory, the beginnings of which they were already seeing even now.

Derek remembered being 14 and 15, and missing out on high school activities and fun with friends in favor of spending time with his little sister had _so_ not been on his agenda.

Then there was his _own_ age and yes, he had preached to Stiles at length about different werewolf aging processes and female Alphas giving birth to their youngest children in their fifties, but still, he had been relieved that he had still had Cas in his late thirties.

He knew it was a mental hang-up more than anything, especially considering his werewolf biology, but starting again at 44 years old? Yeah, that had not been the plan.

Derek couldn’t even decide which of his organs was rolling more violently, the thoughts in his brain or his stomach, but when he gently placed his hand on his upper belly as if to will it to calm down, the nausea got even worse.

Belly-rubbing had never helped against morning-sickness anyways and right now, the very distinct pregnancy gesture was just freaking him out even more.

Eventually his exhaustion caught up with him and he fell asleep around 3 AM, only to be rudely awakened three hours later by the familiar urge to sprint to the bathroom and turn his stomach inside-out.

It was mostly dry-heaving since he really hadn’t eaten anything since the nausea had hit him just before dinner the night before and somehow that made it even worse.

When it was over Derek leaned back against the cool bathtub tiles and drew his knees up, resting his forehead on them as he took deep breaths. When Stiles sank down next to him and gently kneaded his neck Derek leaned into the touch.

Stiles smelled like mate and comfort and Derek tried to pick up on other emotions that could give him an indication if Stiles was really as happy about this as he had claimed last night.

However, all he could sense was comfort and he decided to let go of his fears for the moment, aware that they would not help the nausea one tiny bit.

It was definitely strange, Derek decided when he hunched over the bowl again and Stiles rubbed his back in soothing motions, how quickly they had fallen back into a long-forgotten routine.

With the exception of one day of possibly stomach-bug related throwing up and the accident-related bed rest, his pregnancy with Noah had essentially been a walk in the park and although the ever-present danger of fainting and the extreme sensitivity to certain smells with Cas had been draining, he had only really had actual morning sickness in his first trimester with Leonie and that had been a little more than 12 years ago.

Still, Stiles was rubbing his back as if he had never stopped doing so. He smelled concerned, but not overly so, and when the second bout of dry-heaving was over, Derek stood up shakily, allowing Stiles to draw him back to bed, where his human mate curled up around his back and placed his warm hand on Derek’s stomach.

It shouldn’t have helped, but somehow it made the nausea a bit easier to bear and when it was time to get up and wake the children, Stiles stood up without comment, allowing Derek to keep resting.

His eyes were closed when the door opened again and he didn’t have to open them to know which of his children had decided to check on him.

“Hey Noah,” he muttered and when Noah crawled onto the bed and sat down cross-legged next to him Derek cracked open one eye to at least try and give his middle child an encouraging smile.

“Leonie says she heard you getting sick again,” Noah said quietly and Derek sighed.

“It’s normal Noah, don’t worry,’ he assured him but Noah didn’t seem convinced.

“Having a sick belly is not fun,” his eight-year old said gravely and Derek smiled softly, not surprised that his only human child was able to actually commiserate with him.

“I know Noah. It will pass though, it’s just a little difficult in the beginning,” he explained and Noah reached out a hand hesitantly, before drawing it back, his gaze fixed on Derek’s naked abdomen.

“Is there really a baby in there?” he asked quietly and Derek nodded.

“I really thought Leonie was joking when she said you smelled like pie again,” Noah muttered and Derek shook his head softly.

“Your sister is not getting your treats for a year Noah. It was an unfair bet,” he assured him and Noah’s shoulders slumped in obvious relief.

“Good! It was really unfair,” he said earnestly and Derek nodded again.

“It really was,” he agreed and now that the treat crisis was successfully averted, Noah’s serious expression actually lightened up a little when he stretched out like a cat and snuggled against Derek, his nose pushed against his upper belly.

“I think you smell like pie too, Papa. Leonie says it’s apple, but I think it’s cherry,” he observed and Derek kissed his head lightly, rolling onto his back and closing his eyes again, one hand resting on his belly and the other arm drawing Noah against his side.

“Papa?” Noah murmured and Derek sighed softly.

“Yes son?” he asked and Noah cleared his throat.

“Can I have a sister? A human one? I don’t want to be the only human baby anymore,” he whispered barely audibly and Derek tightened his hold on him.

“I can’t promise you either of that Noah,” he replied and Noah shrugged.

“I know … but I really want a human sister Papa,” he said earnestly.

He paused to think. “Or a human brother would be fine, too, I guess. But I really want a human baby,” he decided.

Derek knew that the bond between Leonie and Cas stemmed largely from her involvement in his birth and the fact that she had been the first member of his family his youngest had scented and _not_ from the fact that they were both werewolves, but he was nevertheless concerned that Noah was increasingly being left out.

He didn’t think they were doing it on purpose, but even though he was three years younger than his older brother, Cas was already much faster than Noah and he and Leonie could play in a way that would have gotten his oldest son seriously hurt had he participated.

Not to mention the fact that Noah still caught just about every bug in his school while his siblings never had to worry about a cold.

For the sake of his deep-thinking, gentle oldest son Derek suddenly really hoped that the baby would be a human as well.

 

=================

 

By the time Stiles drove the children to school Derek had actually fallen asleep again and when he woke up two hours later, Stiles was reading a book next to him.

“Shouldn’t you be at work?” Derek asked confused and Stiles shrugged.

“Took the day off, wanted to make sure you weren’t going to start fainting all over the place again,” he replied.

Derek groaned.

“Morning sickness from hell _and_ fainting would just be cruel,” he muttered and Stiles nodded.

“Definitely. Especially since we kind of promised to help out with Thomas’ birthday party today since Allison’s going to be busy with Ellie and Scott’s been on the verge of a nervous breakdown about this party for two weeks already.”

This time, Derek’s groan was even louder.

“Oh god – the party. I’d forgotten about that,” he mumbled and Stiles gave him a sympathetic smile.

“I’m not surprised. I’ve been scatterbrained ever since yesterday evening – the good kind, though,” he added hastily when Derek’s expression turned from miserable into something that came close to terrified.

“Do you think you’ll be able to go? You don’t have to, I can tell them what’s going on – or I can tell them you got hung up with work if we want to keep it a secret a little longer,” his mate offered and Derek shook his head.

“I plan to feel significantly better by this afternoon. I’m going. The kids have been looking forward to that party all week, ever since Scott let it slip that he hired a clown. Which, by the way, I still think is ridiculous for a second birthday party,” Derek scoffed, then closed his eyes with a pained grimace.

“Still nauseous?” Stiles asked softly.

“Head,” Derek replied and Stiles got out of the bed only to reappear a minute later with a cool washcloth.

“I would like to keep it a secret for a while though. Just until I’ve gotten my mind wrapped around it,” Derek said when the pounding between his temples had dulled back to an acceptable level and Stiles looked skeptical.

“Don’t you think our pack’s noses will be all over you within seconds?” he asked and Derek gave a tiny shake of his head.

“Considering that there is no doubt we conceived this child on Christmas Eve, I’m at most a month along, I won’t be giving off strong pregnancy hormones yet and Allison mentioned the other day that at least 3 of the moms who are going to be hanging out in the background are heavily pregnant – Allison met them in Lamaze class apparently. Their pregnancy smell will overpower anything I have to offer at this point,” he explained.

“But the kids …” Stiles began and Derek sighed.

“Leonie is my daughter _and_ she’s around me every day. She’s much more attuned to my normal smell than the rest of the pack. Now if Cora was there she might be able to notice something’s off, but since Cora and the kids are currently on vacation in Florida there’s no way anyone is going to notice anything.”

Stiles looked at him in concern.

“No offense Derek, but you look like you are about to keel over at any moment. Everyone is going to notice that,” he pointed out and Derek uttered a weak laugh.

“As I said, I plan to feel much better by this afternoon,” he said, his expression turning to utter misery when he shot off the bed without warning.

“You need to drink something,” Stiles said when he walked into the bathroom and Derek, who was breathing heavily and swallowing convulsively, nodded.

“Tiny, slow sips,” Stiles instructed after he had brought up a glass from the kitchen and Derek tried his best to raise his eyebrows menacingly.

“I’m not a child Stiles,” he muttered and Stiles smiled at him fondly.

“I know Stubborn Wolf. I’m just too used to only having our child throwing up in this house,” he explained.

“If Noah has his way this one’s going to be human as well,” Derek muttered and Stiles placed a hesitant hand on his belly, clearly afraid of using too much pressure.

“I’d like that. It’s not like me and Noah can’t hold the fort, but it just breaks my heart that he’s the only one of them who gets sick all the time. Wait – that came out wrong. It’s not like I want to see more children of mine getting sick, obviously not. It’s just …”

“I know,” Derek interrupted him.

“Just – let’s talk about sickness when I’m no longer feeling like shit,” he said and Stiles made an unhappy sound.

“You didn’t start getting morning sickness with Leo-Pie until you were like 7 weeks along. It’s a bit early, isn’t it?” he asked, worry evident in his voice and Derek shrugged.

“As much as I hate to quote some overused pregnancy wisdom – every pregnancy’s different.”

 

============

 

If Stiles had had his way Derek would have stayed at home and not attended the birthday party, since he was clearly not feeling ‘much better’ in the afternoon, but Derek insisted and so Stiles spent most of the car-ride over to Scott and Allison’s house alternating between worried glances at his mate and lecturing his children about keeping the news of Derek’s fourth pregnancy a secret for now.

“But Dad, I don’t understand. Everyone’s going to be happy!” Leonie protested and Stiles, who still winced every time she called him Dad instead of Daddy these days, looked into the rearview mirror with a raised eyebrow worthy of Derek.

“They’ll still be happy in a couple of weeks, but right now Papa isn’t feeling so great and if the pack knows he’s pregnant they might tire him out a little with their excitement,” he explained.

“I’ll keep it a secret Daddy,” Noah promised solemnly and Cas, who had clearly not been in on the treat-bet and therefore didn’t have strong feelings on the subject yet, shrugged.

When they pulled up in front of the house Noah hopped out of the car as soon as Stiles put the gear into park and while their daughter helped Cas out of his car seat, Stiles turned towards Derek with a serious expression on his face.

“I’m going to ask you again, are you _sure_ you can handle this today? You don’t look as pale anymore, but you still give off a sickly vibe,” he said and Derek opened the car door in response.

“I’ll be fine. Stop worrying. Let’s just get through this quickly and then go home and sleep for about two weeks,” Derek muttered and Stiles quickly scrambled after him as he walked towards the door, ready to catch him should he suddenly faint on him again.

Scott’s house had turned into a circus, with children running everywhere and a – in Stiles’ opinion decidedly scary looking – clown chasing after them with balloons.

“Thank god you are here!” Allison exclaimed when she saw them and before Derek could react she had already put Ellie in his arms.

“Watch my kid for a second, I need to make sure her brothers aren’t hurting their guests!” Allison said, a tinge of desperation evident in her voice and Derek slowly sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, carefully cradling the tiny one-month old baby girl.

“Still doing ok?” Stiles asked and Derek nodded.

“I’m fine – go help Allison with your godsons,” Derek replied and when Stiles was gone he turned his attention to the infant, his finger gently stroking along her uneven jaw. Apart from that she was mostly Allison, but if Derek had been a betting man he would have guessed that Scott’s youngest would grow up to be a mini-Scott in Allison-disguise, her tiny personality already resembling her father.

He was still feeling nauseous but it was bearable now and by the time Allison returned and offered him a glass of juice he felt confident enough to drink it, relieved when it seemed like everything would stay down.

“You don’t look so hot,” Allison remarked, wincing slightly when a crashing-sound came from the living room, followed by Scott’s desperate voice.

“Didn’t sleep very well last night – too much work. But based on the look on your face I’m feeling a hundred times better than you,” Derek answered, intent on steering the conversation towards a safer topic.

“Ha! I love Scott with all my heart, but for this I might actually have to kill him. How he could do this to me a month after I gave birth to his daughter is beyond me,” she whined and Derek shrugged, regretting the motion instantly when it made the nausea worse.

Luckily, Allison wasn’t paying attention as she continued to talk about Scott’s misplaced birthday-party enthusiasm for toddlers who would not remember them.

Or maybe she was talking about how to repair a car or bring about world peace, Derek wasn’t sure, since all of his concentration was spent on trying not to vomit.

He wanted to cry in relief when Stiles suddenly appeared at his side to announce that they were going home and Derek realized with a start that he had spent almost the entire party in a near-dazed state.

“I told them you pulled two all-nighters in a row because of deadlines,” Stiles explained on the drive back and Derek gave him the slightest of nods in acknowledgement.

By the time he was able to fall back onto their bed Derek was almost dizzy with exhaustion and he gratefully accepted the glass of water Stiles had brought up from the kitchen.

He was still feeling nauseous but the exhaustion took over and as he fell asleep he desperately hoped that this day was going to be an exception.

 

================

_January 31 st (6 Weeks)_

If anyone had asked Derek how he felt these days, he would have turned into a walking, talking thesaurus, able to spit out synonyms for ‘horrible’ by the handful.

Derek didn’t romanticize the past – that was usually Stiles’ job. He wasn’t about to say that morning-sickness was worse than he actually remembered it, because he could remember his first trimester with Leonie very well and there had been truly horrible days. Not that many of then, but there had been a few.

This, however, was a whole other ballpark and it was making his entire family miserable.

Leonie, who had recently been allowed to try pain-leaching on the scrapes that tended to end up on Noah’s knees when he was playing with Cas, had crawled into bed with him the other day and all but begged him to try and help, looking like she was about to cry and Derek, who was aware that it bothered his daughter to constantly have to smell his discomfort, had been feeling so terrible that he had actually agreed.

However, it was the circle of life all over again, Derek’s most hated werewolf-pregnancy rule that dictated that any pregnancy-related discomfort was exempt from werewolf healing powers.

Leonie had burst into tears when she had realized that she couldn’t help and it had cleared Derek’s head enough to feel horrible that he had actually allowed her to try, not even wanting to imagine his poor daughter trying to absorb what he was feeling.

Then again, Derek couldn’t even put into words what he was actually feeling, the only explanation he could come up with was that he felt – debilitated. Absolutely, and utterly debilitated by the near-constant nausea that got triggered by seemingly everything he did.

It could be a smell, a noise, or a movement, it didn’t really matter.

On Sunday the simple act of getting out of bed had been enough to throw him off for the rest of the day and since he had desperately been behind on his work he had tried to type on his laptop while lying in bed in the late afternoon, only to discover that staring at the screen for longer than five minutes currently had the effect of a stomach bug.

Throwing up ten to twenty times a day had become almost normal to Derek at this point and on the first day of week 6 he had hit his all-time record of 29 times. Admittedly, some of it was dry-heaving but that was almost a given, since he could hardly eat anything.

It wasn’t just the taste of food, it was the smell, even the _thought_ of food that could set off another bout of vomiting and they hadn’t used the stove in two weeks because the smell of anything cooking was torture to Derek’s werewolf-enhanced senses.

The children were quickly getting tired of having to eat salad, raw vegetables, and sandwiches but there was no alternative. Stiles had tried to cook noodles with tomato sauce a couple of days ago while Derek had been holed up under his blanket in their bedroom, all doors in the house closed and a big fan in the kitchen blowing the smell out of the open window, aided by the crisp January air.

It had not been effective and Stiles had ended up throwing out the food half-cooked, unwilling to put his mate through more misery than was necessary.

They still hadn’t told the pack, largely because Derek was strongly opposed to having _all_ of them breathing down his neck with worry. Taking advantage of the fact that almost all of them had small children now and were busy with them, Derek had simply not called a pack-meeting in two weeks and so far no one had noticed.

He knew it was only a matter of time now though, certain that at six weeks even the unrelated members of his pack would be able to pick up on his changing scent, as well as the way his stomach was already beginning to curve outward. Not to mention the fact that he looked like a scary vampire, as Cas had put it very bluntly the other night.

The angles of his face were beginning to become dramatically sharp, there were ridiculously dark shadows under his eyes and his normal skin color was currently something between ashen and milky-white and even Derek had to wince whenever he saw himself in the mirror.

He was definitely grateful that he was a werewolf, certain that a human would have already died of dehydration at this point.

“A human would have been able to go to the hospital,” Stiles had said last night, sounding like he was about two seconds away from driving Derek to the ER and Derek, who had been wondering if werewolves could have migraines, had told him to stop being ridiculous.

“Besides, I can’t go to the hospital. Melissa can’t fake an emergency admittance, no matter how high-up on the nurses ladder she ranks and the reason for my discomfort is obviously stomach-related, which means there will be an ultrasound or at the very least a physical exam, during which an enlarged uterus will definitely raise some eyebrows, especially since said uterus isn’t supposed to be there in the first place.”

“I know, but Derek, I am going crazy here. We have to do something!” Stiles had said helplessly and Derek had closed his eyes against the pain, taking deep, even breathes.

“We couldn’t really do anything twelve years ago, I just had to wait it out. It’ll be over soon. I was over the worst of the morning sickness after three weeks with Leo-Pie and this has been going on for two weeks. One more week and I’ll be fine,” he said as firmly as he could.

“One more week and we’ll be at the point when it _started_ last time,” Stiles muttered under his breath and Derek decided to just pretend he hadn’t heard his mate, because the thought had been running around in his own head for close to two weeks and it scared him more profoundly than he was willing to admit.

 

===============

_February 5 th 2035 (7 Weeks)_

Derek and Stiles were able to keep Derek’s condition a secret for five more days, until Monday February 5th to be exact, when Stiles, who had not been able to postpone an overnight business-trip that required him to leave town on Monday morning, despite his pleas to his boss, had had to leave Derek alone with the kids.

He had charmed his father and Melissa into picking the boys up from elementary school and kindergarten by claiming that they were in need of a grandparents-grandsons day, while Leonie was scheduled to spend the afternoon at her best friend’s house.

Derek had felt weak but not too terrible that morning but Stiles had stocked the nightstand on Derek’s side of the bed with crackers, bottles of water, and ginger ale anyways, to prevent his mate from accidentally starving to death should the nausea come back with enough force to render him quasi-bedridden once again.

Derek had felt nauseous but not cripplingly-so until the early afternoon, had even been able to get a little bit of work done, but then a terrible whine had sounded from outside and when Derek had gone to investigate he had discovered a limping Jay-Jay, who was crying miserably.

The cause of his limping, Derek soon discovered, was a shard of glass in his paw and when he tried to free the dog of it, careful to speak to him in a calm and controlled tone, Jay-Jay, who was terrified and in pain, had thrashed around and accidentally thumped his paw into Derek’s stomach, thus ending the glorious 10-Hours-Vomit-Free record he had been hoping signaled the end of all this misery.

It had taken all his willpower to finally get the shard free, clean the dog’s wound and give him just a hint of his werewolf healing power to avoid an infection, and by that time Derek had felt like he was about to actually collapse.

He had done so on the couch, not even wanting to go back upstairs to crawl into their bed and roughly half an hour later the door had flung open to reveal a frantic Melissa, a worried-looking Sheriff, a disgruntled Cas, and a very guilty-looking Noah.

Apparently there had been a report on an outbreak of some dangerous virus on the radio and Noah, who had been half-listening to it, had picked up the words vomiting, nausea, and death, before he had started crying hysterically out of nowhere.

His grandparent’s worried questions had soon led to some startling revelations and all plans for the grandparents-grandsons afternoon had been scrapped, hence Cas’ disgruntlement.

Melissa brushed Derek’s assurances that he had felt fine for most of the day aside, the frown on her face growing deeper and deeper as she took in his all-overall appearance.

He tried not to wince when Melissa pushed his shirt up and flinched, taking in the beginnings of a belly that – Derek realized – looked like an alarming contrast to his clearly visible hipbones, especially in his prone position.

“At what point in time exactly did you plan on asking the medical professional in this family for help, before or after you had turned into a skeleton and/or vomited your guts out?” Melissa asked gruffly and Derek rubbed his eyes.

“I lost weight with Leonie, too. This is just a little bit worse,” he tried to calm his mother-in-law but Melissa wasn’t having it, clucking her tongue as she continued her examination.

“Listen to me Derek,” she said finally, her tone infinitely more gentle.

“I’m hesitant to suggest this because it shouldn’t be possible with a werewolf, but then again, neither should a pregnant man and from what Noah and you told me and based on what I’m seeing here, I’m going to go ahead and talk to you about it anyways. There is a condition that about 1-2 percent of pregnant women struggle with during pregnancy. It’s called Hyperemsis Gravidarum and it describes a form of morning sickness that is so severe that these women usually end up hospitalized at least once, maybe even more often during their pregnancy because of dehydration, since they cannot keep anything down for long periods of time. It starts between weeks 4 and 6 and peaks somewhere between weeks 8 and 13, sometimes lasting until week 20 and if they are very unlucky for the entire pregnancy. If that is what we are dealing with here – or the werewolf equivalent of it – we need to figure out a way to counteract it, because werewolf or not, we can’t let this thing just run its course,” she said, stroking his face as if he was a small child that needed to be comforted.

“I can’t go to the hospital, that is not an option,” Derek said, his voice shaking as the information “peaks somewhere between weeks 8 and 13” and “sometimes lasting until week 20 or the entire pregnancy” rolled around in his brain. If this wasn’t even as worse as it could get, Derek didn’t think he would actually get through this pregnancy at all.

Melissa sighed, clearly able to sense his rising panic.

“Well, you certainly can’t go to the hospital for HG, that’s true, but Derek honey, we need to monitor this carefully. No more secrets, ok? Now, when is the last time you drank something?”

Derek shrugged and Melissa clucked her tongue again, before getting up and rummaging in the kitchen.

When she came back she carried a large glass of water and Derek began to take slow sips while he listened to John trying to placate Cas about postponing the adventure for another day.

“I thought you said you were no longer able to get pregnant, in fact I remember my son boasting about your built-in-birth control for weeks,” John said later that evening, while Melissa was putting the kids to bed and Derek, who had moved to his own bed by now, shrugged embarrassedly, not about to clue his mate’s father in on Stiles’ various baby-making-triggering kinks.

“Apparently I wanted another baby after all,” he finally said and John nodded, seeming not at all surprised about the revelation.

“I could have told you so when Ellie was born, you were making serious baby-fever eyes at that little girl,” he remarked.

Melissa interrupted them, clapping her hands as she walked into the bedroom.

“Derek, honey, would it be ok if we stayed in the guestroom tonight? You seem to be a little better, but Stiles is not going to be home until late afternoon tomorrow and I’d feel better if I knew you had help with the kids tomorrow, in case it gets bad again,” she said and Derek nodded gratefully, hoping that he wouldn’t end up needing their help but relieved that they were willing to stay.

It turned out to be a good idea and when Stiles got home in the early afternoon, looking stressed and worried, Melissa greeted him by lightly slapping the back of his head for the secrecy, promising Derek that he would get his slap after the baby’s birth.

“Couldn’t Scott maybe heal you from this case of Werewolf-HG?” Stiles asked worriedly after he had been clued in on the recent revelations and Derek sighed.

He hoped it was possible, but he wasn’t holding his breath.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright my dear readers - this chapter is coming to you a bit earlier than the weekly update-rate I promised but there's a 'catch' that I will outline in the end note ;-).
> 
> Enjoy!

_February 14 th  (8 Weeks)_

The HG-Peak, Derek decided at the beginning of his eighth week of pregnancy, was there.

There simply was no way that it could get even worse than what he was feeling right now and he refused to even entertain the notion that it might not be the peak, that it could _still_ get worse.

Excessive fatigue, nausea that never stopped, frequent vomiting triggered by something as trivial as Stiles moving in his sleep next to him and making the mattress shift, weight loss, all of these symptoms could be checked off on the list every single day now and in his darker moments Derek wondered if he was even still a werewolf, certain that his werewolf biology should not have allowed this to be possible.

The first person to find out about the pregnancy after John and Melissa had naturally been Scott, who had stopped by their house and tried his best to leach some of Derek’s discomfort away, only to reluctantly admit surrender after half an hour.

With yet another big campaign coming up – the Easter candy season was fast approaching – Stiles was slammed with work responsibilities and the pack had rallied together to support Derek while he was gone during the day.

Derek had taken a sick-leave from his job, a necessary step since most of his concentration these days was spent on keeping as much food and fluid down as he possibly could and he simply did not have energy for anything else.

If he had not been too afraid that a deep belly laugh might have actually ended with him expelling the inner linings of his stomach, he would have laughed hysterical tears at the challenge that drinking water had become in the past two days.

Water, normal water with no taste that could trigger him, now felt slimy and wrong in his mouth and he had to force himself to actually try and drink it at all, aware that it was necessary and once again thanking his werewolf resilience that had kept him from serious dehydration so far.

Both he and Stiles were grateful for the fact that a lot of his pack members worked on flexible schedules that they could shift around to their liking as long as they got their work done and so Jackson usually got to their house shortly after Stiles had left and stayed with him until about 1 PM, when Isaac took over for three hours until Boyd brought the children home from school and stayed at their house until Stiles got home between 5 and 6.

Jackson always brought Emilia, who, at one and a half-years-old, was possibly the mellowest person in the entire pack, even more quiet than Noah if that was even possible and therefore not a bother or distraction to Derek.

These mornings were mostly spent with Derek curled up under his blankets, on the couch, or on the bathroom floor and Jackson bustling about the house or, if Derek was up, following him like a shadow.

Jackson, Derek had come to find out, was the self-appointed fainting police.

His Beta had apparently done extensive reading on HG and was constantly expecting Derek to collapse to the floor whenever he wasn’t lying down, following him around with a tense expression on his face and constantly ready to pounce in case he had to rescue his Alpha from hitting the floor.

It was making Derek profoundly anxious.

Meanwhile, if Jackson was the fainting-police, Isaac was – without a shadow of a doubt – the food-police and constantly on Derek’s case to eat something.

His curly-haired Beta had interrogated Melissa thoroughly and come to the conclusion that it would be best for Derek and the baby to eat little portions as often as possible, in the hope that at least some of it would nourish them both before it was expelled.

Unlike Jackson, who constantly looked like he expected Derek to keel over and die at any given minute, Isaac was calm and mostly patient, occasionally even a bit snarky when he tried to get Derek to eat something as if he was a small stubborn child and not a grown man currently making his nutrition choices based on what might be more unpleasant if it came back up.

The thing was, Derek did not _want_ to eat, would have fought Isaac on the subject if he had had the energy, but since he didn’t Isaac kept presenting him with the blandest, most neutrally smelling dishes known to men.

At least he had stopped with the snarky attitude after Derek had – and he was still embarrassed about it – started crying in the face of the incredible danger of chicken soup.

He hadn’t sobbed, too afraid that sobbing would just lead to more vomiting, but there had been quite a few silent tears rolling down his exhausted face, effectively scaring Isaac, who seemed to have a hard time to grasp just how bad Derek was actually feeling, into a nicer beside manner.

Derek wondered if Isaac was secretly enhancing the food he did manage to keep down, however, because even though he was still losing weight, most visible in his face and all around his hips, his belly was slowly becoming more pronounced, as one could have expected with a fourth pregnancy. It was only a small protrusion, but still unmistakable.

Being able to cup his belly in his hands, however, was comforting and reassuring, as well as the baby’s heartbeat, which had started up the week before and helped Derek to feel more at ease, since he could make sure now that it was ok despite its father’s poor physical condition.

Derek had never really considered pregnancy to be a ‘condition’, a medical term in his opinion, even when he had been feeling like fainting all over the place with Cas, but this was definitely a condition, and a rather severe one at that.

When Stiles came home early on the afternoon of February 14th, he brought Derek paper-roses, smiling sheepishly as he put them in a vase next to the bed.

“I wanted to be all romantic for once and buy you actual roses, but I figured the smell might be a problem,” he said and Derek reached for his hand in thanks, grasping it with much less strength than he normally would have.

He could see that Stiles noticed the difference; it was obvious in the way his face constricted for a second, as well as the visible tension in his entire body.

Derek would have loved to embrace him, to kiss him properly for the first time in weeks, but neither were an option.

Kissing Stiles was currently a guarantee to trigger another bout of vomiting and even the act of hugging often only served to intensify the nausea.

At first Stiles had stopped using his aftershave. Then they had exchanged all of the soaps in the house, as well as the laundry detergent, with non-smelling products made for people with allergies. It had helped to the point that they could actually sleep in the same bed, but any other intimacy was currently out of the question, no matter how much Derek craved being held.

The same applied to the kids and that was something that almost made Derek feel even more horrible than the actual nausea.

Leonie and Noah were old enough to understand that Derek was ill and needed a little more time to get better, but Cas was only four years old and absolutely not on board with the idea that he could no longer cuddle with his papa.

He had also not been ill yet and was unable to understand what it was like to feel so sick.

Therefore, with Leonie and Noah’s permission and understanding established, Derek occasionally made an exception for Cas, although he wasn’t a hundred percent sure if that was actually helpful, considering the fact that Cas could always smell his discomfort increasing while he was snuggled into Derek’s arms.

Cas’ almost abnormal handle on his werewolf powers at his age turned out to be quite a problem that evening.

Derek had forced himself to eat a bowl of soup and drink a glass of water earlier, managing to keep it down for almost two hours before he had to throw up again so he was reasonably sure that at least some of it had found its way into his system.

He was lying flat on his back and thinking about how different this Valentine’s Day was from the one when he had told Stiles that he was expecting Cas – admittedly, the fainting spell had put a damper on Stiles’ sex drive, but once the cheese had been gone and Derek had recovered there had been some very extended caressing, cuddling, and kissing – when the door opened and all three children tiptoed into the room.

“We made you a present Papa,” Leonie said quietly and Derek carefully maneuvered himself into a half-sitting position so he could see his children.

“Really?” he asked and Noah nodded, looking as serious as ever.

“My teacher said that you give presents to the people you love on Valentine’s Day and because we love you we all made you a present,” he explained and although Derek still felt terrible he had to smile when Noah and Leonie gently nudged Cas forward, who was holding a wrapped parcel in his hands.

“Can you give it to me Cas?” Derek asked and Cas hesitantly reached up so Derek could take the package.

He unwrapped it carefully – under normal circumstances one should not be afraid that the motions of opening a present could trigger a bout of vomiting, but these were rather abnormal circumstances indeed – and when he finally got the box open he had to blink back tears.

There were three plush dolls inside, one girl doll and two boy dolls, dressed in little clothes that strongly resembled each of his children’s favorite outfit.

“Grandma helped us,” Noah explained and Leonie smiled sadly.

“We know we can’t come too close to you at the moment Papa, but we really miss you and we know that you miss us because I heard you talking to Daddy about it and you sounded so sad … and we thought that you could have a little Cas-doll, a Noah-doll, and a Leonie-doll to cuddle with so that you don’t have to miss us so much,” she explained and Derek was really too exhausted to keep the tears from falling when he stared at the dolls.

Melissa had outdone herself and his heart was bursting with love for his children.

They were worth it, he thought as he looked at them, taking in their earnest, beautiful faces – children were worth the pregnancy complications of HG and he hoped that this baby would be just as amazing as its older siblings.

“I love you guys so much,” he whispered and Noah sniffed.

“We love you, too, Papa.”

He looked at him with wide eyes, his lips trembling and looking like he was fighting an internal battle.

“Papa?” he whispered, the battle apparently lost, and Derek nodded.

“Yes Noah-Boa?”

“You are not going to die, right? Promise me you won’t die,” his oldest son said softly and Derek rested his hand on his belly.

He was pretty certain he was not going to die from this, no matter how horrible it was to go through, but he was afraid that he might lose the child after all, had been afraid for weeks despite Scott’s frequent assurances that the child smelled strong and healthy.

Derek wondered how he would be able to live with himself if the child did end up dying, regardless of the fact that thinking along these lines was ridiculous, as it would not have been his fault, and his heart constricted painfully.

“I’m not dying, I promise,” he said, eyes widening when Cas suddenly burst into tears.

“Don’t die Papa, don’t die!” he wailed loudly and Derek winced when something shattered in the kitchen before his mate flew up the stairs, sounding like he was knocking things over left and right in his haste to get to him.

For once Derek couldn’t even blame him for the over-protectiveness, certain that if he had suddenly heard one of his children wailing “Don’t die Daddy, don’t die!” he would have probably freaked out as well.

“Derek!” Stiles yelled when he burst into their bedroom, stopping short when Derek waved at him weakly.

“I’m not dying Stiles,” he said and Stiles sat down on his side of the bed hard, burrowing his face in his hands for a second before he looked at Cas with a stern expression.

“Jonathan Castiel Hale, you _scared_ me baby-boy. No talk about Papa dying, that’s terrifying!” he gasped and Leonie wrapped her arms around her still crying brother, fixing Derek with an almost accusatory glare.

“Noah asked Papa if he was dying and Papa said no but he smelled _really_ unsure. Cas noticed,” she explained and Derek rubbed his eyes, wincing when he felt the nausea rising up again and hoping it wouldn’t hit until his children were safely tucked into their beds.

“Cas – listen to me. I’m not dying. I’m just worried about the baby,” he said firmly, forcing himself not to think about the baby he was carrying and Cas finally quieted down, staring at Derek intently.

“Baby’s going to be ok,” he decided and Stiles looked back and forth between his mate and children.

“I missed something again, right?”

With a soft smile Derek held up the carton, showing the dolls to his mate.

“You only missed how amazing our children are,” he said quietly, rubbing his stomach helplessly against the new bout of nausea.

“Nothing to miss there, it’s not like that’s anything new,” his mate said with almost forced cheeriness, eyes flitting back and forth between Cas’ tear-streaked face and Derek’s pale one.

“Kids, Papa loves your present, but I think we should let him sleep now, ok?” Stiles said loudly and Leonie and Noah nodded before they gently steered their protesting younger brother out of the room.

“I was going to ask you if I could try cooking something for the kids again, I think if I serve them one more peanut butter-jelly sandwich they will go into a hunger-strike, but that wouldn’t be a great plan, would it?” Stiles said softly and Derek squeezed his eyes shut.

“You should take them to that Italian restaurant that they like so much downtown. They need to eat warm food every now and then and I’m not comfortable with them only getting that at the school cafeterias,” Derek suggested and Stiles shook his head.

“First of all, not without you and second of all, I’m not leaving you alone like this when I can _see_ it’s about to get really bad again. Also, it’s Valentine’s Day,” he said.

Derek sighed.

“Yes, it’s Valentine’s Day and since you love our children you should treat them to dinner. The whole thing is a construct anyways. I’ll be fine, trust me, I want them to be able to have a good meal with their Daddy without all of you having to worry you’re inflicting torturous pain upon me,” he argued and Stiles looked at him unhappily.

“It’ll be my Valentine’s Day gift,” Derek added and Stiles scoffed.

“You just said it was a construct – you are _not_ playing fair!” he protested.

Derek closed his eyes.

“This whole situation is pretty unfair from where I’m standing, let’s at least make it fair for the kids.”

He could tell Stiles was still not happy about it but when Cas’ loudly yelled “Daddy, I’m hungry!” throughout the house, Stiles sighed.

“As usual, your children are on your side even when they really shouldn’t be. Fine. You guys win. Just … still be here when I come back, ok?”

Derek sighed.

“Don’t be so dramatic, of course I’ll still be here,” he muttered, frowning when Stiles made an exasperated and hurt sound.

“Derek, I love you, I really do and I _know_ this is worse for you than for me, _way worse_ , no one is saying otherwise but don’t … just don’t tell me how to deal with this because _I_ have to see you suffer every single day and it’s _my_ fault and I can do absolutely _nothing_ , so just … don’t tell me how I am supposed to feel about this!”

He was gone before Derek had a chance to reply and when he rounded up the children to go eat at the restaurant Derek could still hear the anger in his mate’s voice.

It made him feel infinitely worse.

Stiles had tried to be supportive rather than overbearing in his concern and Derek really appreciated him for it, knowing that it probably wasn’t easy considering his mate had been on edge ever since Derek had been about five weeks along when, after almost a week of increasing nausea and a steadily climbing frequency of vomiting, there had been no sign that it would actually get better soon.

Derek was certain that Stiles didn’t know he was aware of the constant texting between him, Jackson, and Isaac, to ask how Derek was doing.

His mate was feeling guilty every time he had to leave, Derek could see it in his eyes, and Stiles winced every time Derek lost the battle against the nausea.

Stiles winced a lot these days.

A whole lot.

He knew that Stiles was feeling very guilty, convinced that it had been his role-play that had somehow temporarily caused Derek to lose his mind and believe he wanted another child even though he really didn’t, that the wolf had completely taken over and, fooled by the illusion, had become confused.

Reality, however, was quite the contrary.

He had had quite a lot of time to think about this lately, and the more he thought about the months leading up to the conception of their fourth child, the more Derek realized that he had always wanted another baby.

Maybe not at first, right after Cas’ birth, but as Cas had gotten older and the rest of the pack had had their babies, Derek had frequently had to stifle thoughts about how wonderful it would be to have another child, not even allowing himself to think about that for longer than even a second.

Derek wasn’t angry at Deaton for maybe mistranslating the two Japanese Alphas at the symposium – he was certain that they had told him the truth; that he would have been unable to conceive anymore if his wolf had decided that was no longer an option.

The thing was, however, his wolf, and thus Derek, had craved another child, a fact that should have been clear to him when he had felt like being hit by a sledgehammer upon learning that he supposedly could no longer conceive.

However, he had ignored the bad feeling, written it up to an unwillingness to accept yet another change to his body, and because he had told Stiles they could no longer conceive his mate had prepared the breeding-fantasy for Christmas and … successfully bred him.

There really was no other way to put it and there was no doubt in Derek’s mind about what had actually happened that day.

Stiles had been confused in the beginning, arguing that Derek hadn’t knotted him during the fantasy, but Derek was quite certain that he had already been in conceiving mode when they had had sex in the hallway, a fact that simply hadn’t registered until that evening because they hadn’t had time for sex in the weeks leading up to Christmas Eve.

And even if he hadn’t been ready then, he was sure that seeing his mate heavily pregnant, even if it had been just an illusion, had pretty much jumpstarted his reproductive system right then and there and since Stiles’ semen had probably still been inside of him the conception had probably taken place before Derek had actually entered Stiles to act out their fantasy.

It was a whole bunch of complicated biological and supernatural laws that had to be factored into this equation and Derek wasn’t a hundred percent sure he had gotten it right, but the fact of the matter remained, he had wanted another child, had lured Stiles into a sense of false security and was now reaping the consequences.

It was no wonder Stiles had just snapped at him, clearly unhappy with seeing Derek suffer because he was carrying a child that they had conceived under not necessarily consensual conditions.

Stiles had been having kinky sex … for Derek it had definitely been baby-making sex.

The fact that he himself hadn’t really been aware of it didn’t make it any better.

Stiles hadn’t been lying when he had said he was happy about the baby a couple of weeks ago. But now he had had time to process it and it wasn’t that he thought his mate was suddenly unhappy about their child – but he had probably realized that he had not been consulted which, unlike the adoption of their dog, which Derek had pretty much decided on his own, was definitely not acceptable.

Two hours later Derek was curled up under the blanket when Stiles and the children came home and he pinched his nose shut while he heard the children and his mate take a shower, clearly to wash off the lingering smell of the Italian restaurant.

He was lying on his side, hand lightly resting on the gentle curve of his abdomen when Stiles came into their bedroom after the kids had been put to bed and quietly put on his sleeping t-shirt and sleep shorts.

His mate smelled anxious as he silently slipped under the covers and Derek closed his eyes, when he felt the first tears pooling in them.

For a while neither of them said anything and finally Derek took a deep breath, gathering himself when he turned around to lay on his back, staring at the dark ceiling of their bedroom.

“I’m sorry Stiles,” he said quietly, not looking at his mate to see his reaction and speaking quickly before he could lose his courage.

“I wanted another child. I’ve always wanted another baby and I should have realized it when I learned that Alphas were no longer able to conceive and I got so upset about it. I lied to you when I told you I was fine when I come home from that trip. I didn’t want to make you worry, but I wasn’t fine with it, I was sad for weeks afterwards. But you were so excited when you heard we no longer needed to use birth control and I just – I thought it wouldn’t be an issue if you didn’t want it.”

He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, his eyelids twitching as the first tears began to roll out of the corner of his eyelids.

“I tricked you into this through lying by omission and that was … that was wrong of me. And now we are having another child and I feel so horrible every minute of every day that I sometimes can’t even move, let alone help you with the kids or take any burden from you, while you have to work full-time and then have to worry about the children when you get home. I’m so sorry Stiles, I didn’t want it to be like this, and I …”

His voice had gone shaky as more and more tears slipped out of his eyes and he was about to continue his apology when Stiles leaned over and hushed him, wiping the tears away from his face with his thumb and then gently resting his hand on his belly.

“Oh my god, Derek, you stupidly oblivious love of my fucking life, will you please just shut up for a second?” he said, his tone much more gentle than the harsh words and Derek shut up, finally turning his head to look at his mate through red-rimmed eyes.

“Do you realize that we have our 20th mating anniversary coming up this year? Including the time we were dating that means we have been together for 22 years. I _know_ you Derek. And I know that I once said that all of your wolf personas begin with an S, like Sexy Wolf or Sour Wolf, but you know which one definitely does not apply to you? _Subtle_ Wolf. Do you really think I didn’t notice that you weren’t a hundred percent sure about whether you wanted another baby or not? Of course I noticed. That Christmas gift wasn’t just a kinky fantasy exploration, I wanted to see it if was true. You kept telling me no, but everything about you said _yes_ , heck, even my _dad_ noticed that when we went to see Ellie at the hospital.”

He spread his hand wider to cover more of Derek’s belly, an unhappy expression on his face.

“You weren’t admitting it and so I thought maybe, just maybe, if we had sex like that again, you might develop a knot and then I could finally tell you that I also wanted another baby. I am grateful for the children we have, but I just didn’t feel our family was complete yet, and that feeling just intensified the older Cas got. But ultimately _I’m_ not the one who has to carry it, I’m not the one giving birth to it and I wasn’t going to push for it until I was sure you actually wanted another child as well.”

He smiled softly.

“When you didn’t produce a knot that night I thought to myself ‘Well, I guess I misread the signs’, but I still wasn’t convinced and then you were constantly tired in the beginning of January and you kept getting headaches and don’t even think I didn’t notice that my curly fries made you super queasy that one night.”

He shrugged.

“I’ve seen you go through a pregnancy three times Derek, I know what you’re like when you’re pregnant and when it became clear you were – Derek, I was _happy_. I _am_ happy! I was hoping for this and if anything, _I_ should be the one apologizing for not telling you my intentions with the breeding fantasy. You hadn’t produced a knot in so long but I was sure that after that symposium put things into perspective for both of us you were just about to and I … I was hoping you would.”

He smiled sadly.

“So don’t you ever apologize to me for this again. Of course I don’t like seeing you go through this, it breaks my heart if you must know. I go to work and I try to concentrate and instead I find myself texting Jackson or Isaac every half hour to make sure you are still doing ok. I wasn’t expecting this to happen, but you never know and even though this _sucks_ right now, at the end of the day we’ll have a beautiful little baby that we _both_ wanted! Who didn’t tell whom what does _not_ matter in the long run, what matters is our baby, our children, our family, _us_. I love you Derek and I’m sorry for snapping at you earlier.”

He stared at Derek intently, his expression turning into a pained grimace.

“And now you need to stop crying because I’m about to cry, too, and then we’ll both be sobbing and if we do that you’ll probably start throwing up again and then I’ll cry even more and then our children will barge in here and then we’ll all cry and that’s just not a good end for Valentine’s Day _at all_.”

Derek inhaled deeply, breathing in and out slowly until he felt he was ready to speak.

“I want this baby. Carrying it makes me feel like I’m dying half the time but god, I _want_ this baby so much. And I need us to be ok Stiles. We have to be ok, because _I’m_ not ok, and I just … I need us to be ok. I love you.”

Stiles’ smile was infinitely gentle.

“I know.”

Derek smiled, even though tears were still running down his face.

If Stiles was Han-Soloing him then they were definitely ok.

“God, I wish I could kiss you and make you feel better, you have no idea,” Stiles mumbled and Derek sighed.

“Believe me – I do,” he muttered.

“Hold still,” Stiles said after a short pause and when Derek did he bent his head over Derek’s belly and touched his lips to his skin, so lightly that one could have almost missed it.

“Hey baby – this is Daddy. You’re creating quite a bit of drama here but I love you so much. And I’m going to show Papa just how much in just a little bit here, so please work with me baby and give him a break, ok?” he whispered, before he looked up at Derek with a mischievous smile.

“Don’t move,” he repeated and Derek closed his eyes, allowing himself to concentrate on the sensation of Stiles lightly kissing every bit of exposed skin he could reach, only the barest hints of touches.

It didn’t magically cure the nausea and it didn’t prevent Derek from almost falling off the bed at 4 AM when he barely managed to grab the trashcan that was always standing next to his bed before he became violently ill, but knowing that his mate was there, wanted the child just as much as he did, and was fully committed to loving him through sickness and health made everything a lot easier to bear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My lovelies - this is the last Sterek Mpreg fic of the Alliteration Verse and because that is the case, I was wondering if there are maybe pregnancy/mpreg tropes that I have so far left out and that you would really like to see.
> 
> So that's the deal. You got this chapter a bit earlier and if you want, tell me what you would like to see in the comments! 
> 
> Technically, I'm good until Week 20 (though I'd always be willing to add extra scenes for the first trimester or early second trimester), but Week 20 to 32 (I promise, y'all are going to enjoy the trouble that Stiles and his big mouth get into in Week 32) is still a big space of nothing in my word document.  
> Now I am sure I can come up with stuff on my own, but I don't want to be too repetitive and therefore, if there is something you want to read about, tell me please :). 
> 
> Next Up: The chapter that 99 percent takes place in a hospital.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With an extra-kudos to SamanthaPetrelli, who prompted the first part of this chapter. Hope this was what you were looking for.
> 
> To the rest of you: feel free to keep prompting me for things you would like to see with Derek's last pregnancy, I can always add new scenes during edits ;-).

_February 21 st (9 Weeks)_

Stiles was completely and utterly exhausted, the evidence of which was clearly visible in the bags under his eyes and the sluggish way he moved and Derek couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty.

Stiles had had to oversee four promotional events in the past week, making speeches and praising the newest products of the company, and that on top of all the worrying for Derek and the things he had to organize concerning the kids had left his mate constantly on the verge of a complete meltdown if Derek was not mistaken.

Determined to let him get as much sleep as he could, Derek therefore decided not to disturb him when the nausea woke him up at 1 in the morning that night, trying to shuffle out of bed as quietly as possible and getting down the stairs to the guest bathroom without falling.

Cas slept like a log and Noah’s hearing wasn’t good enough to pick up on it, but Leonie always woke up when he had to throw up during the night and Derek didn’t think he could get through one more night spent on a bathroom floor watched over by his concerned mate and overtired daughter, both of them stroking his ankles and calves with wretched expressions on their faces because they were too scared to come too close and set off another bout of vomiting.

Noah, Cas, and his little baby were lucky that he hadn’t gone through this with Leonie – he really wasn’t sure there would have been other children if his first pregnancy had been the nightmare he was currently living.

Making it to the bathroom just in time Derek doubled over, stubbornly willing the tears in his eyes to keep from falling as he began to cough as quietly as possible.

His throat felt rough and dry and his stomach was twisting itself painfully, but Derek was glad he was actually a werewolf – he had read stories online, of women vomiting blood in the shower because they had accidentally ingested water from the faucet, of serious damage to the esophagus and stomach, and he was relieved that his currently very much faulty werewolf healing had so far spared him at least from that.

Leonie and Stiles would probably be beside themselves if he actually started to hack up blood and that was an experience he was trying to avoid at all costs.

It seemed like hours until his stomach finally settled down enough for him to even think about getting up again and when he did he had to grab the counter, recognizing his darkening vision and cotton-head for what it was.

He really needed to drink something and it was sheer determination that got him into the kitchen, allowed him to grab a glass from the cabinet without dropping it from his shaking fingers, and filling it to the halfway point.

He made it exactly three sips before he had to lurch over the sink and what little he had managed to force down came up again, but Derek was determined, filling the glass up again and again, despite his body’s continued unwillingness to accept hydration.

When he looked at the clock next it was almost four and he rubbed his eyes.

Clammy sweat was clinging to his body and he had managed to keep down the staggering amount of what probably came to one glass of water so far, utterly exhausting himself in the process.

If he had had the energy Derek would have laughed when he realized there was no way he was going to be able to get up from the floor he was currently sprawled on.

He was debating whether he should call out for help or just wait until Stiles got up when the door to their bedroom opened and his mate rushed down the stairs, his heartbeat thundering.

Derek tried to smile when Stiles burst into the kitchen; aware that he probably looked like he had actually collapsed to the ground and whispering “I’m fine,” when Stiles began to check him over for injuries.

“Yeah _right_ ,” Stiles muttered, eyes brimming with unhappiness as he looked at his tired mate.

“What are you even doing down here?” he asked and Derek closed his eyes.

“Needed to drink some water … didn’t quite work,” he answered, his eyes flying open when Stiles’ arms were suddenly around him and he was being lifted into the air, cradled against Stiles’ chest like a damsel in distress as his mate slowly carried him to their bedroom again.

If he hadn’t been so tired he would have protested, aware that Stiles’ back had started to bother him on occasion in the past couple of years, but right now being carried to a more comfortable surface than the cold kitchen floor seemed like a wonderful idea.

He was out like a light before his head even hit the pillow and it wasn’t until later that morning, as Jackson, who had been briefed by Stiles about the night’s events, was trying to get him to drink some tea, when he realized that Stiles had never been physically able to carry him before in their entire relationship.

His body was deteriorating rapidly and he was once again terrified for his unborn child.

The baby’s heartbeat, however, was as strong as ever, almost as if it knew his or her papa really needed to be reassured right now and Derek hoped Stiles wouldn’t freak out about this too much.

 

==================

 

Stiles was freaking out.

He had started freaking out the moment he had woken up next to the cold space on the mattress where Derek normally lay, indicating that his mate had been gone for quite some time.

He had freaked out a little more when he had not found him in their bathroom and then rushed down the stairs, only to find him sprawled all over the floor, face ashen-white, skin clammy with sweat and looking like he had actually collapsed.

He had really freaked out when he had lifted him up from the floor without thinking, carrying him up the stairs and gently lowering him to the mattress before realizing that he should have never been able to carry him in the first place.

Derek was maybe one or two inches taller than him, but he was much heavier, courtesy of all those werewolf muscles, and up until that point the only attempt he had ever made to carry him – over the threshold to the loft to be exact, the night after they had become mates – had ended with a cursing Derek sprawled all over the floor and a groaning Stiles on top of him.

That he was now not only able to actually lift him and then carry him up the stairs spoke volumes about the fragile state his werewolf was in and he grabbed his phone and stumbled out of their bedroom as soon as he had made sure that Derek was asleep, recognizing the signs of his panic attack for what they were.

He hadn’t had a panic attack in years and even though it was quite chilly outside he felt as if he was going to burn up, heart thundering in his chest as he pressed the speed dial button for his father.

His dad, whom everyone still called Sheriff even though he had retired from the force two years ago, picked up after the second ring, voice tired but alert, a testament of many years on the police force.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen? The baby?” his father asked quickly and Stiles tried to answer, an almost impossible task when he had to take gulping breaths every time he opened his mouth to talk.

“Dad … I can’t … Derek is … I can’t _do_ this anymore!” he wheezed and he could barely hear his father’s response through the rushing sound in his ears, slumping down on the porch steps and lowering his head between his knees when his father told him to hang on tight and wait for him.

It seemed like forever until his father’s car pulled up into the drive-way and then his dad’s arms were around him, holding him tight and rubbing his back as Stiles continued to pant harshly, wondering if he was actually getting to the age where a heart-attack could be a possibility.

“Where’s Derek?” Melissa asked, hand stroking his hair softly and Stiles made a low whining sound.

“Asleep,” he got out, looking up at his father and quasi-mother with tears in his eyes.

“He’s fine, he’s sleeping, he’s going to be fine, he’s going to be alright he’s … Dad, I can’t do it anymore, I can’t watch anymore, I can’t, I just …. I _can’t_!” he rasped and Melissa, who had been ready to sprint off towards Derek, relaxed, exchanging a quick glance with his father before she went inside towards the kitchen, presumable to brew him a really strong coffee and Stiles slumped back against his father, rubbing at his eyes furiously as his breathing finally began to even out.

“What happened?” his father asked and Stiles took a shaky breath.

“I carried him upstairs. He was in the kitchen, and he was too weak and I just … Dad I _carried_ him. I should not be able to carry a werewolf made purely of muscle! I’ve never seen him like this and it’s not stopping and I don’t know if it’s going to stop at all and this is only week _nine_ , he’s got at least 28 more to go and I don’t … I don’t think he can do it! I can’t lose him Dad, I just can’t!”

His father grasped his upper arm firmly, forcing him to look at him and speaking to him in a tone that he had last heard his father use when his mother had been in the hospital.

“You’re not going to lose him son. He’s a werewolf, he’s going to pull through, no matter what,” he said with conviction, eyebrows rising in confusion when Stiles uttered a loud sob.

“No matter what? You mean no matter whether the baby makes it? That’s a valid question right now, right? I mean, it’s hardly getting any nutrition, I don’t even know how it’s still alive!”

He shook his head wildly, looking at his father in desperation.

“I am a _horrible_ father Dad! I should be caring about my baby, too, but all I can think about right now is _Derek_ , and that I can’t lose him and that I’d give up on the baby if it meant he’s not going to die on me and how can I even _think_ that, how can I even _say_ that? Derek can’t die, the children would be screwed if they are stuck with just me, I can’t do this without him!”

A small part of Stiles, the rational part, the one that wasn’t gripped by panic at the moment, knew that if Derek had heard any of this he would have probably throttled him.

It had been a long time since Stiles had actively doubted his parenting skills, but if there was one thing Derek hated with a passion it was Stiles trying to tell him he was a better parent.

They had had multiple arguments about it, especially when Noah had been really small and Leonie had begun to test their boundaries, and Derek had been livid whenever Stiles had tried to put himself down.

As far as Derek was concerned, Stiles’ continued insistence that Derek was the more natural parent was an attempt to put more of the responsibility for their parenting decisions on Derek’s shoulders and it was something he refused to let Stiles get away with, even on the most trivial of issues.

He wasn’t a hundred percent wrong, though Stiles was rarely willing to admit it, and he had tried to be better about it, but having to carry Derek up the stairs had unhinged something inside of him, making all of his insecurities bubble back to the surface.

He winced when his father slapped the back of his head.

“Derek would have slapped you if he had heard you talk just now!” the former Sheriff said and Stiles smiled shakily.

“I know. Part of me knows I’m being ridiculous, but the other part just had to carry my werewolf mate who is too sick and weak to even drink one tiny glass of water down the stairs and I just … Dad, it breaks my heart!”

His father rubbed his back comfortingly once more, expression sad as he regarded his son.

“I know. Believe me, I know.”

“How did you do it? Be strong for me and for her I mean? I’m trying Dad, I’m trying so hard, but I feel like I’m about to come apart!”

“You may feel like it’s too much, but you won’t come apart. You’ll continue to be there for Derek and you’ll continue to make sure your children are alright and there’s no strategy or a secret trick. It’s just what you do for the people you love.”

Stiles rubbed his eyes, gratefully smiling at Melissa when she pushed a steaming cup of coffee in his hand.

“Derek is sleeping. He didn’t even hear me when I went to check on him,” she directed at his father, voice gentle as she grasped Stiles’ shoulder.

“He’s not going to die right?”

Stiles hated himself for how child-like his voice sounded, but he nevertheless focused on Melissa as if she had the answer to all his worries and Melissa stroked his hair fondly.

“Scott and I don’t think so. I’m not going to lie honey, we are concerned about the little one, but if it’s a werewolf it should pull through as well.”

“ _If_ it’s a werewolf,” Stiles muttered darkly and Melissa shrugged.

“Pretty sure it is, Scott has three to one werewolf children, why shouldn’t it be the same for you two?” she said encouragingly and Stiles nodded.

“I wanted it to be human, for Noah, but now I just want them to be ok. They have to be ok,” he whispered and his father nudged his shoulder.

“They will be. It might get worse before it gets better, but they will be ok.”

 

_===============_

 

_February 27 th (10 Weeks)_

On February 28th Stiles, who was in the finishing stage of the new campaign and had already logged in two weeks of vacation time immediately afterwards, was attending a business meeting in San Francisco and therefore in no position to help when the call came around noon.

Derek, who had slipped in and out of exhausted naps all morning, was resting when the phone rang and although he was almost half-asleep his eyes snapped open when Jackson picked up the phone and his Beta’s heart rate skyrocketed almost immediately after.

By the time Jackson hung up the phone after having promised the other person on the line to be there as quickly as possible Derek was already at the bottom of the stairs, gripping the handrail tightly and looking at Jackson with alarm on his face.

“What happened?” he demanded and Jackson turned around quickly, concern stretching over his face when he saw how unsteady Derek was on his feet.

“The school just called. Noah fell off one of these handle-bar things during recess and they think he broke his arm. They are on their way to the ER with him,” he explained and Derek squeezed his eyes shut for a second.

“Let’s go,” he whispered, opening his eyes again when Jackson made a sound of disbelief in the back of his throat.

“I can go and check on him and we can get Isaac to come a little earlier, you really aren’t in any condition to stress yourself out at the hospital,” he protested and Derek glared at him.

“My child broke his arm. I’m not leaving him alone and we’re going right now,” he said firmly, noting with relief that Jackson seemed to have registered the barest hint of Alpha in his tone.

“Are you going to be ok during the drive?” he asked, already putting on his coat and bundling up Emilia and Derek managed a humorless smirk.

“Probably not, but I really don’t give a flying …”

“Language Derek, my baby is here!” Jackson interrupted him quickly and Derek glared half-heartedly when Jackson handed him his jacket.

To his surprise he managed not to throw up on the drive to the hospital and when they got there he really hoped no one would have the grand idea to admit him right along with his son, given his appearance.

It was Melissa’s day off and he didn’t know how he could weasel out of that situation without his mother-in-law striding to the rescue.

Noah, it turned out, had not only broken his arm but probably also suffered a concussion and the nurse attending to his little boy promised him the doctor would be right with him.

“Are you ok Noah-Boa?” Derek asked as he gingerly sat down on Noah’s hospital bed and draped his arm across his back and Noah, who, like Leonie, hadn’t gotten to cuddle with his papa for weeks, buried his head into his chest and sniffed.

“Didn’t mean to fall Papa,” he muttered into Derek’s shirt and Derek stroked his head softly, careful to avoid the bandage.

“It wasn’t your fault Noah, don’t worry,” Derek said quietly.

Now that the adrenaline shock of hearing the news was over and he had been able to make sure that his child was going to be alright, the smells of the hospital were starting to catch up with Derek and although he didn’t think he would have to throw up just yet it was starting to become more and more difficult to focus.

“Are you in pain Noah?” he asked and Noah shook his head, still not willing to remove himself from his father.

“Doctor Ethan took my pain. He said it was because I got a special cast with magical healing-powers, but I know he took it. He’s like you Papa. I didn’t say anything though, I know we are not supposed to talk about werewolves in public,” Noah explained and Derek and Jackson, who was entertaining Emilia in the corner of the room, froze.

No one had heard of a new werewolf in town, especially not working at the hospital and Derek could see the questions already forming on Jackson’s tongue when the door opened and the werewolf in question strode into the room, his white coat billowing behind him.

He was probably around Stiles’ age, with spiked blonde hair, a strong jaw, and kind eyes and when his eyes met Derek’s, he flashed them obediently, startling Derek with their bright blue color.

“I thought I could smell an entire pack on this little gentleman,” the doctor grinned before he walked over and held out his hand to Derek.

“Doctor Ethan Carver, pleased to make your acquaintance Alpha … Hale, correct?” he said, gazing at Noah’s chart quickly and Derek nodded, not trusting himself to speak since the nausea had just gotten worse.

“I realize it is bad form that my brother and I did not introduce ourselves when we moved into the area, but we had just left our old pack for … political reasons and I’m afraid my brother Aiden was very reluctant to bother with another pack for the moment.”

“Political reasons?” Jackson challenged, sounding as suspicious as Derek felt and the werewolf held up his hand in a placating gesture, grimacing lightly.

“Our Alpha was very happy to turn people – too many, in mine and my brother’s opinion. It got ugly and we left.”

He was telling the truth and Derek relaxed just a little, noting with relief that it also helped the nausea.

“So you and your brother are Omegas now?” he asked and the man shook his head.

“Technically I guess we would be considered Omegas, but my brother and I are twins and for some reason that bond has so far been strong enough to keep us from descending into lone wolf madness.”

He had started examining Noah’s head while he was speaking and now nodded with a satisfied smile.

“I’m sure your smart little boy already informed you that I took some of his pain away while I fixed him up, I could tell I wasn’t fooling that kid for even a second with my magic cast story. It’s a clean break so I assume he’ll be good to go in about a month, given his age and his overall physical condition. We would like to keep him here for a night though, to monitor the concussion situation,” he explained and Derek nodded.

“May I stay here during the night? I don’t want to leave him alone,” Derek asked and the doctor nodded.

“Of course. We can wheel in an additional bed, that will not be a problem.”

Derek sighed in relief.

“My mate is on a business trip right now but I assume he’ll want to come right here when he gets home, will that be alright?” he asked and if the doctor was surprised that Derek’s mate was a ‘he’, he didn’t show it.

“I know we have visiting hours, but to be honest we like to bend those quite a bit when it comes to little children. Your mate can come here whenever he wants,” he assured Derek, a slight frown growing on his face as he regarded him more closely, his nostrils twitching.

After a short moment of surprise, concern and sympathy flashed over his face and he smiled gently.  

“My brother Aiden works at the hospital, too. I’m in pediatrics and he’s an OBGYN. I don’t want to invade your privacy Alpha Hale but … it looks to me like I should probably page him to check on you,” he said carefully and before Derek could answer, Jackson was already nodding.

“Yes, thank god! Something should have been done _weeks_ ago! I’m staying during the exam though, there’s no way I’m leaving him alone with my Alpha!” he rushed out and while Ethan looked at him in surprise, Derek rubbed his forehead.

“I can speak for myself, Jackson,” he said and Jackson blushed, although his determined expression remained.

“Again, forgive me for intruding Alpha Hale, but my brother has actually overseen a male Alpha pregnancy a couple of years ago – not in our own pack, but an allied pack I should add – and he would probably be able to help. At least he could probably figure out a way to rehydrate you without causing too much suspicion, because my nose tells me you are very much at risk for that right now,” he added and Derek sighed.

“Page your brother, please,” he said and while Ethan was occupied Derek turned back to Noah, wincing when he noticed the worried look on his oldest son’s face.

“Are you still feeling really bad Papa?” he asked softly and Derek nodded.

“I’ll feel better soon Noah, I promise,” he replied and Noah shook his head.

“You keep saying that but then you _don’t_ ,” he argued and Derek sighed.

“I promise,” he repeated again and although Noah still looked unhappy, he nodded, before snuggling back against Derek’s side, his hand lightly resting on his father’s slightly swollen belly.

Derek was trying to breathe as shallowly as possibly when the door flung open again and a man that looked near identical to Ethan Carver strode inside, his coat possibly billowing even more dramatically than his brother’s.

It took Derek all but a minute to decide that out of the two of them Ethan had definitely been better suited to work with children, since his twin brother’s beside manner was rather – gruff.

Also a bit snarky. Strangely enough though, Derek didn’t doubt his competence for even one second.

“Alpha Hale, I’m Doctor Aiden Carver,” Aiden greeted him, before he immediately stepped closer and indicated for Derek to lie down, winking at Noah so he would scoot over and nodding towards his brother to make sure Noah wasn’t going to tumble out of the bed on the other side when he began to examine Derek.

His touch was firm but gentle as he prodded at Derek’s stomach and after he had taken a couple of deep sniffs his expression turned into a scowl.

“Just because you are a werewolf that doesn’t mean you don’t have to concern yourself with dehydration. It takes a while longer, but it does come eventually!” he grunted and Derek’s lips twitched.

“How long have you been suffering from HG anyways?” Aiden asked and Jackson made a surprised sound.

“You can tell based on touching his stomach a couple of times?” he asked and Aiden scoffed.

“I can tell by the HCG-level in his blood, but I’m trained for that sort of thing and I deal with HG every now and then with my normal patients.”

He turned to look at Derek, looking both concerned and a little annoyed.

“This is no laughing matter and from your overall condition it seems like this has been going on for a couple of weeks at least. When did it start?”

Derek concentrated.

“Six weeks ago, maybe?”

Aiden’s jaw dropped.

“Six weeks ago and your pack never thought to jam an IV up your arm to get some fluids into you? _Awesome_.”

He nodded towards Ethan who was already striding towards the door.

“I need an IV in here, tell them the kid is a bit dehydrated if you have to,” he said.

He was about to address Derek again when the door flew open and Stiles stumbled into the room, looking panicked.

“Meeting ended way ahead of schedule … was going to surprise you … what’s wrong with my son!” he gasped and Aiden raised his eyebrows.

“The proud father, I assume?” he asked and Derek nodded, before he had to put his hand over his mouth and nose to stifle the gag reflex brought on by the smell of panicked sweat on Stiles’ skin.

“Not to be rude Mr. Hale, but you smell like you just sprinted a mile and that is not going to help your mate one tiny bit so please change before you come into this room again!” Aiden barked and Stiles’ eyes widened in indignation, both at being called Mr. Hale and because he was essentially being thrown out of the room.

“Your son is going to be fine Mr. Hale, his arm is broken but it is a clean break and will heal without complications and though we are keeping him here for the night to check if he has a concussion, I actually think he got lucky with the bump to the head,” the doctor added, obviously making an effort to be polite.

“But you really should take a shower first before we can let you loose on your mate.”

“What the …” Stiles began, only to be interrupted by Jackson, who quickly grabbed his elbow and steered him out of the door.

Derek could hear Stiles’ indignant squawks even from outside.

“I’m sorry for the rudeness, but I’m not having you rid yourself of even more fluid,” Aiden explained, nodding towards Ethan who had just returned with the IV, as well as a rather sourly looking orderly who was pushing a small visitor’s bed and left without a word, throwing a nasty glance as Ethan as he exited the room.

Apparently, both twins could be quite the charmers when it came to people-skills.

“Do you think you can make the incision yourself? It will take some time to heal and we can actually get some fluid into you before your skin closes up and pushes out the needle,” Aiden said and Derek closed his eyes as he tore at his skin, fighting the urge to gag the entire time.

Ethan, meanwhile, was calmly explaining to Noah what was going on and when Stiles, freshly showered and dressed in a sweater Jackson had swiped from the nurses’ station, returned to the room, Noah was sitting cross-legged on the bed, the discomfort from his cast forgotten as he stared at Derek’s arm in fascination.

The glare Stiles directed at Aiden as he stepped towards Noah and kissed his head was only half-hearted, suggesting that Jackson had brought him up to speed about who the two doctors were.

Jackson made his exit soon after, explaining that he would go pick Leonie and Cas up from their respective schools and take them to his house until Stiles got home to pick them up.

After Ethan had excused himself to go check on another patient, Aiden pulled up a chair and sat across from Derek, who was starting to feel slightly better as he watched the necessary liquid drip into his arm, while Stiles sat between both beds, holding Noah’s hand with one and stroking Derek’s knuckles with the other.

“Now, since your mate is no longer in danger of drying out completely, let’s go over your history so I can get a better idea of what we are going to be dealing with in the next couple of months. That is, if you want to continue being under my care, which I would assume you do, since anything else would be stupid and reckless?” Aiden continued, ignoring Stiles’ bristling when Derek nodded.

“This is my fourth pregnancy. I had my daughter almost twelve years ago, my son here was born four years later and our youngest son is turning five this year,” Derek explained as Aiden made a couple of notes on a pad.

“How about morning sickness? Or any other complications?” he continued and this time Stiles answered, tightening his hold on Derek’s hand.

“He had what we then thought was bad morning sickness with our daughter for about a month, but it was nothing compared to this and there were only two or three days when he had to throw up more than twice. With our oldest son he wasn’t really nauseous at all except for one day which we are still not sure was actually caused by the pregnancy and with our youngest he often felt faint and nauseous triggered by certain smells during the first trimester but he never did throw up.”

Derek shook his head.

“I actually did throw up once, but that was before I learned that cheese was no longer welcome in our house,” he amended and Stiles looked at him in concern.

“Why did I never hear about that?” he asked and Derek shrugged.

“I though the constant danger of fainting was quite enough for you to worry about,” he explained and Aiden grinned.

“An overprotective mate I take it? Those are my all-time _favorite_. I have overseen only one male Alpha pregnancy so far but that one’s mate, another Alpha by the way, though I’m still not sure how exactly they made that work on an everyday basis, would start growling whenever someone came within two feet of his mate. Made examining him a rather wonderful experience I assure you,” he said and Stiles raised his eyebrows.

“I understand the feeling,” he said testily and Derek sighed, not really in the mood for a pissing-contest between his mate and new doctor.

“With my daughter I didn’t really have any serious complications that went beyond normal discomfort levels. With my oldest son I was on bed-rest because a car-accident towards the end of my third trimester caused me to go into early labor, but that was not an issue with my youngest, despite some … challenging circumstances,” he said, gripping Stiles’ hand tightly when he felt his mate tense beside him as they both remembered the events surrounding Derek’s almost-fatal kidnapping.

“Why does he have HG now? He didn’t with the other pregnancies,” Stiles asked and Derek looked at Aiden again, very interested in the answer to that question as well.

Aiden tapped his chin thoughtfully.

“It is uncommon to develop HG after three pregnancies without it, I admit, but there are certain factors that possibly contributed to you developing it now, starting with the fact that this is your fourth pregnancy and you are a man. Despite your ability to conceive and carry children that came with becoming an Alpha, the male body isn’t really made for such a high HCG hormone level and since I assume you didn’t turn into an Alpha until long after you had gone through puberty there is only so much HCG-exposure your system can take before it begins to retaliate. It doesn’t _have_ to happen, but the risk increases with each subsequent pregnancy. Imagine it like a woman giving birth to a child that does not share her rhesus factor. Her body develops a resistance and she becomes sick with each subsequent pregnancy. Of course your biology is now designed so that you can be pregnant and unless there are severe external influences you are not in danger of miscarrying because of your werewolf nature, but if you are willing to listen to my medical advice – I would not recommend a fifth pregnancy after this one. You would almost certainly have to go through this again and your HG seems to be pretty bad right now as it is. Sadly, with conditions like this the sky is the limit in terms of complications and if I were you I would not want to take that risk.”

Stiles looked stricken when Aiden stopped speaking and Derek sighed, aware that his mate was probably berating himself for impregnating him again right now.

“Your age is another factor,” Aiden continued, clearly unwilling to listen to spousal drama as he regarded Derek and Stiles with a frown on his face.

“Not that advanced age is a risk factor for HG per se, but combined with what I just explained it does not help, although werewolves are capable of carrying healthy babies to term well until their fifties if they so desire.”

He made another note on his pad, took another sniff and nodded.

“And then of course there is the fact that women carrying multiples are at a higher risk for HG as well, a theory that I’m pretty sure also applies to male werewolves carrying more than one child,” he said, jotting down more information on his notepad and looking up with a small smile when Stiles and Derek gasped in unison.

“What!?” Stiles squeaked and Derek rested his hand on his belly, staring at the protrusion with shock.

“More than one baby?” Noah asked, looking like he was about to bounce off the bed in excitement and Aiden nodded.

“Twins,” he explained, his smug smile turning into a frown when Stiles began to hyperventilate.

“Holy crap, twins? But that doesn’t run in Derek’s family! Or in mine!” he exclaimed and Aiden shrugged.

“It definitely does now,” he commented, looking at Derek in concern, who had grown even paler.

“I can’t hear two heartbeats,” he argued weakly and Aiden shook his head.

“They are a little hard to differentiate since one is currently masking the other and also a little stronger, but I can assure you, even if I didn’t hear the second heartbeat I would be able to tell by your smell. You are definitely carrying two children.”

“What do you mean, one heartbeat is weaker than the other?” Stiles whispered, the color having gone out of his face and for the first time Aiden actually looked sympathetic.

“Both children are alive and from what I can tell, doing well. The reason for their different strengths in heartbeats might be that one is a human and the other a werewolf, or maybe it’s just because each child is different, but I assure you, they are doing fine.”

He sighed when the looks of distress on both men’s face only increased.

“I’ll schedule you for an ultrasound so you can see for yourself. You might have to wait a while, I need to make sure the room is free and no one comes in to get a rather alarming surprise, but we can definitely check to see what’s going on,” he explained, nodding at Derek before he exited the room.

For a while no one said anything.

Stiles was still staring at Derek with a shocked expression on his face and Derek couldn’t tear his gaze away from his stomach, roaming his hands over it again and again as if he had never felt or seen it before.

They both jumped when Noah suddenly spoke again.

“Can I have two human sisters Papa? One would have been awesome, but two is even better!” he said excitedly and Stiles ruffled his hair affectionately.

“We can’t promise you that Noah-Boa, you know that,” he said gently and Noah shrugged.

“I know Daddy. But it would be very awesome,” he decided, grinning at Derek happily.

Derek tried to smile at his son but found himself unable to, his eyes welling up with tears as he continued to feel his abdomen.

“I can’t hear them. Stiles, I can’t hear our second baby,” he whispered, and Stiles placed his hand above Derek’s, stroking it softly.

“You heard the doc, even he could barely make out the difference and he has to listen to babies in utero everyday. And besides, Scott essentially pushed his nose into your stomach two weeks ago and he didn’t hear anything either. If a True Alpha fails at detecting a twin heartbeat, then you aren’t expected to either,” he tried to soothe his mate, wincing when the first tears began to roll down Derek’s cheek.

“But they are inside of _me_ – I should have known. Why didn’t I know Stiles?” he asked and Stiles, who had no idea why this was worth crying over and wondered just how exhausted his mate currently was, gently stroked his hair.

“It’s fine Derek, it’s all going to be fine. We have a doc now, who, despite being a major jerk, will take care of you and our children. You’ll be fine. Don’t be upset, please, I don’t want you get sick again. Go to sleep my love, the children aren’t going anywhere,” he said, gently stroking Derek’s abdomen and Derek closed his eyes, still sniffing occasionally, even though he had stopped crying.

He fell asleep soon after and it wasn’t until the early evening when Aiden returned, flashing an apologetic smile at Stiles, who was sitting on Noah’s bed and cradling his injured child, who had fallen asleep two hours ago.

“I apologize for the delay but we had more patients than I was expecting.”

He looked at Derek, who was slowly stirring awake, with a satisfied nod.

“I see he got some sleep. That is good, the IV should have helped him in making this a restful sleep,” he said, before he stepped over and gently detached the needle from Derek’s arm.

“Do you think you can walk to the exam room Alpha Hale? I would normally put you in a wheelchair or roll you in with the bed but that might attract too much attention,” he said and Derek took a deep breath, then nodded.

“I think I can manage that,” he said and Stiles gently detached his sleeping child from his arms.

“I don’t want to leave him alone,” he said and Aiden laid his hand on Noah’s forehead before he shook his head.

“Don’t worry, your child is out and will probably be asleep for quite some time. Ethan sometimes overdoes it with the pain leaching a little and that knocks the little ones out quite effectively. I’m surprised your child stayed awake as long as he did,” he said and Stiles nodded slowly.

“Let’s just be as quick as possible, alright?” he asked before he gently draped his arm across Derek’s waist and helped him walk out of the room, hoping that it looked like they were just concerned parents on their way home from the hospital.

When they reached the exam room Stiles helped Derek to lie down on the exam table and soon Aiden was moving the probe along Derek’s stomach.

“As I said Alpha Hale,” he said, addressing Derek primarily as he looked at the screen.

“This is Baby A and this over here is Baby B.”

“No Baby C, right?” Stiles asked and Aiden shook his head.

“No Baby C,” he confirmed, rolling his eyes a little when Stiles let out a loud sigh of relief.

“Which one has the weaker heartbeat?” Derek asked and Aiden shook his head again.

“Not _weaker_ Alpha Hale, just not as strong. Both babies seem to be healthy and developing right on schedule. I will want to check up on you regularly but I’m afraid that will become rather challenging once you reach your second trimester and really look pregnant,” he said and Derek clucked his tongue.

“My mother’s former Emissary is a veterinarian and has an ultrasound machine in his animal clinic. Could we do the appointments there?” he asked and Aiden made a noise that was somewhere between a growl and a grunt.

“ _Animal_ clinic. I have been waiting for this all my life. Sanitary conditions are overrated anyways. Sure, whynot, it’ll be a _riot_ ,” he sighed, looking at Derek with a huge scowl.

“You might even be able to teach our vet a few tricks or two about gender detection … in case he ever needs to do that again,” Stiles mused, smiling widely and Aiden frowned when Derek uttered a soft laugh.

“Well, it looks like your mate is feeling a little better Mr. Hale if he can laugh again without immediately turning green, so I definitely want to keep him overnight and put some more fluid into him,” Aiden said and Stiles grinned.

“Mr. Stilinski,” he said, holding out his hand and Aiden looked confused.

“Stilinski? As in Sheriff Stilinksi?”

Stiles laughed.

“Nah, that’s my father, who’s retired by the way. I’m just Mr. Stilinski. Stiles Stilinski of Delicious Candy-Fame,” he explained and all of a sudden Aiden’s eyes widened, the joy spreading over his face changing his entire demeanor.

“Are you kidding me right now?! Those Sour Wolfs changed my life! I will do your care pro bono in return for pounds of candy bags every week!” he exclaimed, looking more excited than his normally snarky attitude would have suggested and Stiles smirked.

“That could be arranged.”

“Why not Hale though?” Aiden asked once he had managed to school his grin back into his grumpy features and Stiles shrugged.

“Never came up,” he explained and Aiden frowned.

“Strange,” he muttered, before he turned back to Derek who was still staring at the screen.

“I can’t hear my second baby,” he said quietly and Aiden rested a hand on his stomach in an almost comforting manner before he wiped the gel off.

“You’ll be able to soon now that you know what to listen for. Don’t be alarmed, even trained doctors sometimes miss a second heartbeat on an ultrasound.”

As Aiden had predicted, Noah was still out cold when they got back to the room and after Aiden had reattached the IV he left them, promising to make sure that only Ethan would come in to check on Noah during the night.

Stiles looked like leaving Derek alone was the hardest thing he had ever done in his life when he leant over and pressed a soft kiss against his forehead, always ready to move back quickly if Derek became too nauseous again.

“I can’t believe it,” he whispered, gently resting his hand on Derek’s belly and stroking along the curve lightly.

“I put _two_ babies in you,” he marveled and Derek couldn’t suppress his smile at the pride in his mate’s voice.

He still sounded a bit shell-shocked as well, but the shock was obviously going to wear off quickly in favor of pride and an unmistakable smugness.

“Stiles Stilinski, Breeder Stallion Extraordinaire,” Derek teased softly and Stiles laughed quietly, careful not to wake Noah.

“I love you so much Derek. Words cannot express how in awe I am of you and how grateful I am to be your mate,” he whispered and Derek decided to just go ahead and take the risk when he reached up for Stiles’ face and pulled him towards him, softly kissing his closed mouth.

There was no tongue, Derek wasn’t stupid, but the feeling of Stiles’ soft lips against his dry and chapped ones was like a soothing balm spreading all over him and Stiles smiled against his lips, one hand stroking Derek’s face while the other never left his belly.

“I need you to beat this stupid HG as quickly as possible – I will absolutely not be able to keep my hands off of you as soon as you really start showing. You’ll be so incredibly gorgeous,” Stiles whispered when they separated and Derek, who wasn’t quite so sure about the gorgeous part but very much on board with Stiles’ hands all over him, nodded.

“I’ll do my very best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case anyone was wondering why this fic is titled "Full House" ... the twin-reveal would be your answer ;-) (yes, that was planned from the beginning and yes, I had to sit on my hands not to give it away when so many people were hoping for twins in "Rule of Three")
> 
> Also, Aiden and Ethan are finally gracing us with their presence and I figured this might be as good a way as any to include them in my little verse. 
> 
> Next Update will be on or shortly after September 2nd and include: Stiles' twin announcement to the pack doesn't go like he planned and Aiden makes himself useful.


	4. Chapter 4

_March 6 th (11 Weeks)_

In the two weeks following his first encounter with Aiden Carver Derek wondered how he had managed to go through three pregnancies without trained medical assistance without going out of his mind with worry.

For his entire gruff attitude Aiden was taking Derek’s condition very seriously, had even advised him to keep a nutrition/drink/vomit diary so that they could estimate how close he was to dehydration at any given time.

On days when the vomiting outweighed the fluid-intake by far Aiden stopped by their house on his way home to help Derek administer the IV, which they had taken home from the hospital after Noah had been released.

Well, Aiden had snuck it out of the hospital and driven it to their home, but Stiles and Derek were nevertheless glad that they now had access to something that could actually help keep the children healthy.

Derek was still feeling horrible, there hadn’t really been a change ever since Noah’s accident, but knowing that the fact that he was carrying twins was probably contributing to the nausea somehow made it a bit easier.

Derek still couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

Leonie had been thrilled, Cas had just shrugged – leading Derek to believe that his youngest might have actually had an inkling, considering how well developed his senses already were – and Stiles had … started to brag.

Obnoxiously and constantly, if anyone cared to ask for Derek’s opinion.

They had first told the Sheriff and Melissa, the former of whom had promptly grabbed one of Melissa’s nougat-marzipan cupcakes from the kitchen counter and bitten into it to “get some sugar so I will no longer feel faint from the shock”, beaming proudly around a mouthful of cupcake as he had stared at them.

Melissa had knelt down next to the couch on which Derek had been laying at the time and placed a comfortingly cool hand on his forehead, softly stroking his hair and smiling teary-eyed.

They made the announcement to the rest of the pack at the next pack meeting at their house and Derek, who had refused to miss out on it and had been sitting in the armchair with a bucket at his feet, observed Stiles’ subtle hints to the pack with an expression that was both fond and resigned.

His mate had first served everyone double decker chocolate bars that he had ordered from the UK, but no one had so much as blinked.

Stiles had quickly gotten frustrated with the lack of response and had then placed a bowl of pea-pods on the couch table that each contained two peas. Again, no one had mentioned it, though Derek was not surprised to discover that not one pack member felt the craving for raw peas.

Next he had tried to let the word ‘two’ dominate the conversation (“Are you sure you only want one banana Scott? Don’t you rather want … _two_?”) and Derek was almost ready to spill the beans himself when Stiles obviously reached the end of his subtlety and resorted to Plan D.

He had not shared the details of Plan D with Derek and the pregnant werewolf was absolutely mortified when Stiles puffed out his chest, grinned at everyone and just said, “Guess why I have super sperm!”

The pack looked at him with matching frowns and it took almost half a minute before Scott rolled his eyes and spoke first.

“Because Derek was done with kids and you tricked his wolf into it?” he offered, shrugging as if to say ‘best friend, what am I supposed to do?’ when his pack mates threw looks of betrayal at him for actually going along with this.

“Nope! Turns out we were both really, _really_ on board the Another-Baby-Train, we just didn’t sit in the same wagon and didn’t see each other. Try again!” Stiles grinned and after a moment of consideration Erica spoke up next.

“Because it sparkles in the sun?” she offered, throwing an apologetic glance at Derek who just raised one eyebrow.

“We don’t talk about that, _ever_ , but no, not because of that!” Stiles quickly jumped in, also throwing a worried glance at his mate but for once Derek didn’t think a _Twilight_ reference would end up making him feel nauseous.

“Because … you knocked up a man four times?” Boyd suggested, sounding a little bored and Stiles shook his head.

“Nah – that was all on Derek’s Super-Uterus.”

Erica cackled.

“We should turn that into a comic book series. Super-Sperm and Super-Uterus, fighting crime on the streets of Beacon Hills!” she triumphed and Stiles laughed.

“I’d dig that comic book, that would be so _awesome_ , but no, that’s not it either!”

Derek sighed when he began to lightly stroke his belly, silently apologizing to the children for the fact that they were getting a, as their older sister put it, rather _silly_ daddy and Isaac frowned, looking at Derek’s midsection with renewed interest.

“You’ve got super-sperm because the kid you put inside my Alpha is growing right along schedule despite the fact that the rest of him just looks emaciated at this point?”

Stiles cocked his head.

“What do you mean?”

Isaac blushed, looking like he suddenly really wanted to reconsider that statement.

“I just meant that … I just … uhm … I didn’t mean anything by it!” he said quickly and Lydia, who hadn’t been able to attend a pack meeting in three months and had not seen Derek since Christmas, squinted when she looked at him.

“Isaac’s right. Your belly looks just like you did at this stage when you were carrying Cas – that’s a good sign though, right? That the baby is actually growing despite the constant throwing up?” she asked and Derek nodded.

He was about to clue them in on the secret when Stiles finally threw his hands up in frustration.

“ _Seriously_ guys!  I need the right answer! There’s a _price_! And no one is getting it because you’re all to blind to see the obvious staring you in the face!”

He moved over to the armchair and sat down on the edge carefully, looking at Derek questioningly before, after Derek’s nodding confirmation, he gently placed his hand on his mate’s belly.

“Think about it guys! Why, after, as you so rightly said, knocking up my male mate with perfect children three times already would I now brag about having awesome sperm! Why now? Why not say with Leonie? Or Noah? Or Cas? What could possibly be different now?” he asked and Jackson grunted.

“It’s not like you didn’t brag the last three times so it’s not really different at all.”

“He does have a point,” Lydia agreed with a smirk and Stiles scoffed.

“Slander, I should sue all of you. Seriously though, think about it! What could possibly be inside this belly to make it so perfectly round already?”

Derek hid his face in his hands, wondering if the rest of the pack couldn’t see him if he just didn’t see their embarrassed and confused faces anymore.

He was certain he could remember that trick working back when he had been two.

In the end he wasn’t surprised that Cora, proud mom of energetic and gorgeous twins for over a year now, got it first.

“Holy crap! Derek! How? Twins don’t run in our family!” she gasped and the rest of the pack whipped their heads towards her, then back at Derek and Stiles, staring at the werewolf’s belly with fascination.

“Technically they do run in your family now, ever since you adopted Finja and Jacob,” Stiles pointed out with a beaming smile and Cora grinned.

“That’s true I guess. Still, way to go big bro!”

“Will you be ok?” Allison asked, looking at Derek with concern.

“All those HG complications can’t be easy on someone carrying twins,” she mused and Derek nodded.

“I’ll be ok. Aiden has a shitty bedside attitude but he’s a good doctor and he’ll make sure I’ll be ok,” he said.

“Hold on  - you guys are seriously having twins? That’s … kind of awesome!” Scott exclaimed, frowning suddenly when he seemed to be doing the math in his head.

“But … that means one of your kids won’t marry a McCall! Allison! We need to …”

Allison shook her head firmly.

“As recently as last night you were freaking out about how we were going to send four kids to college. We are _done_! Doner than done. Super-done, in fact. No one has ever been more done. I could go on but that would be redundant since we are _done_!”

Scott smiled sheepishly, then turned towards Stiles.

“Sorry buddy, one of your kids will just have to deal!”

“Stilinski out-fathered all of us, who would have thought!” Jackson suddenly grinned and Derek rubbed his temple.

The pregnant werewolf wasn’t really sure how to feel about the fact that they would soon have the largest number of kids out of the entire pack, had expressed his feelings on the subject last night in fact, but Stiles had waved these concerns aside, staring at Derek’s belly with an awed expression instead.

It was something he had started to do a lot lately, as if he really couldn’t believe that they were having twins yet, especially since it really wasn’t all that noticeable at this point, despite Stiles’ bragging.

“What’s my price?” Cora interrupted his musings suddenly and Derek hid his face behind his hands again when Stiles proudly presented her with a bag full of the company’s newest demo-candy … a champagne flavored gummy candy targeted exclusively to adult stores and shaped as little sperms.

How Stiles had managed to get permission for _that_ Derek would never understand.

And, given the look of horror on the pack’s faces, no one in the McCall-Hale pack would ever be caught dead trying one of those.

 

===================

_March 31 st (15 Weeks)_

Four weeks after the big twins reveal Derek hadn’t really gotten all that much bigger, a fact that sometimes worried him even though Aiden kept assuring him that the babies were growing just as they should and perfectly on schedule, despite the ongoing HG situation, which was currently made up of ups and downs.

Some days he almost made it an entire day without vomiting, usually after a night spent on the IV that Aiden still insisted on occasionally, some days he thought he could actually see chunks of his digestive organs in the vomit violently expelling itself from his mouth.

He still felt drained nearly every day, sometimes wondering if it would _ever_ stop, but on the days when he actually had stretches of more than two hours at a time when he didn’t feel even a hint of nausea, he was really starting to get excited.

Granted, he hadn’t had much time to freak out over the babies being – in fact – bab _ies_ rather than a baby, mostly due to the fact that the _peak_ of the HG had hit in the week after the reveal to the pack.

He was almost glad that he hardly remembered anything about those four days that Stiles had not gone to work and the kids had spent at their grandparents’ house, although he had been pretty certain that the look on Stiles’ harried face when he had finally become coherent enough again to be aware of his surroundings suggested it had probably been pretty bad.

By the time he had felt strong enough again to actually freak out properly about the fact that they were going to have five children on the 20th of September, the due date that Aiden had calculated with an important look on his face, he had already gotten used to the idea.

The fact that he could now hear the second baby’s heartbeat as well had also helped with the acceptance.

It wouldn’t be easy, but Leonie was old enough to help, Noah was already making plans for how he would comfort the babies through their first illnesses – both Derek and Stiles really hoped at least one child was a human, not wanting to imagine the disappointment for their son if they both turned out to be werewolves – and Cas was extremely baby-friendly, if his interactions with the youngest pack members were anything to go by, so he wasn’t all that concerned about the children assimilating to the new situation.

They would have to get a bigger car, but that could wait a while longer.

He was reading a book on the couch that afternoon – it was one of the better days and he really hoped that didn’t mean he would have another big setback on Noah’s birthday the next day – when Aiden barged into the living room, looking extremely excited.

Aiden and Ethan were still convinced they weren’t Omegas, but considering how eagerly they had integrated themselves into the pack’s lives Derek was pretty sure they were longing for another pack.

He wanted to give them time to actually ask him themselves, but he was certain that it was only a matter of weeks now.

Aiden snapped his fingers in front of Derek’s face, snapping him out of his reverie and staring at him with a happy grin that was almost uncharacteristic for him.

“I’ve got it!” he proclaimed proudly and Derek frowned.

“You’ve got what?” he asked, raising his eyebrows when Aiden waved an IV bag in front of him triumphantly.

“This! The answer!”

“That’s … Wolfsbane,” Derek said slowly, looking at Aiden as if he had gone insane.

“You want to hook me on an IV full of _Wolfsbane_?” he asked incredulously and Aiden grinned.

“It took me forever to research this, but I’m 99.9 percent sure that this will finally get your HG under control, maybe even cure it if we administer the treatment regularly!”

“99.9 percent? The last time someone gave me a 99.9 percent guarantee I ended up having to give tons of baby-girl clothes away because I had Noah,” he said and Aiden shrugged.

“Even if it doesn’t work, this kind of Wolfsbane is not toxic for us so really, no harm done either way.”

He looked at Derek impatiently, tapping his foot.

“Today? Come on Derek, I want to see if it works!”

Aiden’s bedside manner was as terrible as ever and Derek sighed before he slowly got up, waving Aiden’s helping hand away as he slowly made his way up the stairs to their bedroom.

He once again didn’t look at his arm when he made the incision with his claw and once Aiden had inserted the needle he rested his back against the pillows, closing his eyes with a sigh.

“If this makes me so ill that I’ll be in a state of delirium for my son’s birthday I’ll be a little mad,” he murmured and Aiden scoffed.

“Have patience in my skill Derek! I’m sure we’re on to something here!”

The first thing the Wolfsbane cure for HG did was knock Derek out cold for five hours and when he woke up in the evening, Aiden was sitting on a chair next to his bed, happily munching on Chinese food from a take-away place.

Derek was about to shoot out of the bed, prepared to not even make it to the bathroom due to the assault of strong smells … only he didn’t have to.

Instead, his mouth began to water.

His mouth hadn’t watered with anything other than bile in _months_.

He would have cried if he had had many fluids to spare.

“I … don’t feel nauseous,” he observed, stroking his belly in wonder and Aiden grinned.

“Thought you wouldn’t. 99.9 percent, as I said. Would you like some stir fry?”

“Maybe I should start with something … easier? Work myself up to the advanced class of eating again?” Derek said, still unable to believe that he was actually feeling _good_ , and Aiden rolled his eyes.

“No sense of adventure, figures. Alright, lets go downstairs, your mate has some truly bland food prepared for you. He tried to threaten me when I marched up the stairs with my take-out earlier, but I’m the medical expert so he had to suck it.”

Stiles did indeed look concerned when Derek walked into the kitchen, looking up from the pot of mashed potatoes he was stirring.

He had cooked mashed potatoes and carrots and the spoon he had used to stir the vegetables with dropped to the floor when Derek strode over, wrapped his arms around his mate and kissed him deeply, not able to wait any longer after so many weeks of rare chaste kisses.

They only broke apart when Aiden coughed and Stiles looked at Derek with such love and relief that it made the werewolf feel more cherished than ever.

“You haven’t done that to me in months!” Stiles whispered and Derek smiled.

“I haven’t felt this good in months,” he confirmed and Stiles let out a shaky sigh.

“Is this going to be permanent?” he asked Aiden and Aiden nodded.

“I hope so. I’ll see if I can make pills out of the mixture and he’ll probably have to take them daily for at least the next couple of weeks, but I’m pretty sure we can get it under control like this and maybe in a couple of weeks he won’t even need the pills at all,” he said, snarky expression turning into a pleased grin when Stiles whispered a choked “Thank you” before turning back to Derek and claiming his mouth again, his hands firmly pressed on either side of his mate’s belly.

“Do you feel like potatoes and carrots? Aiden suggested we start you off with something fancy to overcompensate for all the weeks of hardly eating anything, but I didn’t really think that was wise,” he finally said and Derek smiled.

“Potatoes and carrots sound amazing right now,” he assured his mate, surprised when he realized that they actually did make his mouth water.

His entire family was watching him like a hawk as he slowly ate the food, relief evident even on Cas’ face when he went for seconds and after they had put the kids to sleep that night – even Leonie, who had recently decided that she was too old for that – Stiles snuggled up to his mate, hand lightly tracing over his stomach and staring at the IV that was once again dripping Wolfsbane into his mate’s system.

“Do you think it will work?” he whispered and Derek rubbed his eyes, feeling exhausted but still not nauseous.

“It has to,” he said simply and Stiles nodded, leaning up to kiss Derek’s jaw.

“Then it will,” he decided and even though Derek could smell the uncertainty in his mate, he was also relieved to note that Stiles hadn’t been this relaxed in weeks.

“Noah was so scared you wouldn’t be able to celebrate his birthday,” Stiles whispered and Derek sighed.

“I know. I heard. I would have celebrated my child’s birthday with a bucket strapped to my chest if I had had to,” he muttered and Stiles laughed softly.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that after all. You are a Sexy Wolf, but I doubt that even you could pull that off.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be up at the end of the week - in the meantime, feel free to keep prompting me :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was done, so I thought, why wait. Expect some teasers as to what is still to come in this story in the end-note.

_April 1 st, Noah’s 8th Birthday_

When Derek woke up the next morning he took deep, even breaths, a smile breaking out on his face when he realized that he was not feeling nauseous.

He sat up slowly, always prepared to sprint out of bed and not quite ready yet to accept that it would not be necessary.

When he was certain that there was indeed no nausea lurking around the corner, he allowed his senses to focus on the rest of his family, noting that everyone except Noah was still asleep.

He could hear Stiles’ soft breathing, Cas’ quiet muttering that signaled his youngest child was deeply engrossed in a dream, Leonie’s occasional snuffling as she was slowly waking up and Noah’s tossing and turning as he was obviously debating whether he should get out of bed or not.

Since he was feeling rather good Derek decided to make Noah’s decision for him as he stood up quietly, careful not to wake Stiles as he tiptoed out of the bedroom and towards Noah’s room.

His oldest son, who had just gotten rid of his cast last week, was sitting in his bed and reading a big, self-made birthday card that Leonie and Cas had snuck into his room after he had fallen asleep (though Derek, who had clearly heard the giggling of his youngest, was wondering how Noah had managed to sleep through his werewolf siblings’ misguided attempt at stealth) and when he saw his father his eyes widened.

“Papa! Are you feeling good?”

His son sounded much too worried for a birthday-boy and so Derek decided to prove to him that he did indeed feel good.

He reached down and grabbed Noah, hoisting him out of bed and twirling him around twice before he settled him on his hip to smack a big kiss on his cheek.

“Happy Birthday Noah-Boa!” he smiled at him and Noah beamed, throwing his arms around Derek’s neck.

“Babies good, too?” he asked and Derek nodded with a smile.

“Babies are good and I’m feeling good, too. I feel like I could eat all of your birthday pancakes,” he informed his 8-year old and Noah looked at him with all the seriousness he could muster.

“You can have all of my birthday pancakes Papa, because you couldn’t eat anything for so long!” he promised, scrunching up his eyebrows in thought before he added “But maybe I can have one, too, ok?”

“You can have all the birthday pancakes you want,” Derek promised, turning around when he heard Cas shuffle into the room.

“Happy Birthday Noah!” he yawned, walking up to Derek and reaching up his hands, demanding to be picked up as well.

It was maybe a bit much but Derek did it anyways, too grateful to finally be able to function like a normal human – or rather werewolf – being again and Cas snuggled against his other side, clearly not really awake yet.

“You’re awake Papa!” a new voice suddenly rang out and before Derek could respond Leonie, who was tall enough to reach up to his chest at this point, wrapped her arms around his waist, nuzzling Noah’s leg in a silent birthday greeting with her nose before she placed her cheek against her father’s stomach.

There was the click of a camera and when Derek looked up Stiles was leaning inside the door, a soft smile on his face as he took in the scene in front of him.

“I think it’s safe to say our children missed you very much,” he mouthed, before he walked over to Derek and planted a big kiss on Noah’s cheek.

“Happy birthday little boy!” he grinned and Noah shook his head.

“I’m a big boy now, Daddy!” he protested and Stiles beamed at him, before he took him from Derek and twirled him around himself.

“You just keep thinking that!” he decided with a soft smile after he had set him down again and Derek chuckled.

“How about we call you little man now, would that be more acceptable?” he asked and Noah considered the question seriously, before he nodded with a pleased smile.

“Yes Papa. I like that!”

“Does the little man want some presents?” Stiles asked mischievously, grin widening when Noah all but tripped over his own feet in his haste to get downstairs, where Stiles had set out the presents late last night, Cas and Leonie hot on his heels.

When their children were gone Stiles turned towards Derek, drawing the older man into an embrace that Derek returned with a contented sigh.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Stiles asked and Derek smiled.

“I’m feeling good. I can’t believe I’m saying it, but I’m feeling good. A little tired maybe, but I’m actually hungry.”

Stiles let out a shaky breath, one hand resting against Derek’s side as he stroked his skin idly.

“And how are the Wonder Twins this morning?” he asked and Derek grinned.

“They are also hungry I believe,” he answered and his mate laughed.

“Should I be a good mate and provide for you and my offspring then?” he asked and Derek raised his eyebrows.

“Are you planning on hunting a buck and dropping its lifeless carcass in front of my feet? In werewolf terminology that’s kind of what providing means my love,” he informed Stiles gently, a teasing glint in his eye when Stiles’ eyes widened.

“That might be overdoing it just a little. I was thinking pancakes. But I can totally drop them in front of your feet if you want me to.”

Because he could Derek leaned over and kissed him deeply, smiling against his lips when he broke the kiss and Stiles let out a whine of protest.

“Make it pancakes topped with cheese, cream spinach, and eggs sunny-side up and we’ve go ourselves a deal.”

Stiles made a small noise of protest.

“If I wasn’t so deliriously happy that you actually have pregnancy cravings now I’d be very appalled at that combination,” he muttered, grabbing Derek’s hand and leading him out of Noah’s room to join their squealing children in the kitchen.

“Not a craving, that’s how they sometimes eat pancakes at pancake houses in the Netherlands. Of course they make them European style pancakes, but the point remains valid!” Derek protested and Stiles grinned.

“Whatever you say Papa Wolf. Whatever you say.”

 

================

_April 20 th (17 Weeks)_

In the weeks after Aiden’s discovery of the Wolfsbane cure Derek thoroughly enjoyed the nausea-freedom, taking pleasure in the simplest things like going outside for a walk and playing with Jay-Jay, eating when he wanted to eat something and doing some research for his work on the computer without having to fear another bout of vomiting.

It had been a rare breed of Wolfsbane that had finally done the trick, Aiden had explained during his next check-up, detailing the weeks he had spent analyzing different breeds.

Noah, who had accompanied Derek to the exam and was staring at the ultrasound image of the twins with excitement, had worriedly asked if the Wolfsbane’s effectiveness meant that the babies were werewolves and Aiden had shaken his head with a somewhat taken-aback expression, praising Noah for being a smart little boy and assuring him that the cure would have been effective either way.

Derek had tried very hard to keep his face neutral.

Aiden’s heartbeat had not been steady during his answer and though the doctor had not said it out loud yet Derek was pretty sure that he was convinced at this point that both babies were werewolves and that that was the reason why the cure had kicked in right away, despite his earlier suggestions that the difference in their heartbeats meant that one was a human and the other a werewolf.

It made Derek sad for Noah because his instincts were also starting to tell him that at least one child was a werewolf as well. He was not sure whether both of them were, but Derek had never heard of human/werewolf twins before and he was starting to wonder if they would have to start preparing Noah for the inevitable.

For himself, however, Derek was just relieved that it was in fact working, that he was finally able to function like a normal person again, not to mention the fact that he could actually parent his children once more now that their proximity wasn’t a challenge to his senses.

The only downside of the pills was the sleepiness that came with taking them and although he tried to only take them in the evenings there were still days when he started to feel the first signs of nausea during the day and had to take one as an emergency, effectively knocking him out for at least two or three hours every time.

Towards the end of his 17th week of pregnancy Derek woke up on a Sunday morning with his belly churning unpleasantly and cold sweat on his forehead and after he had emptied his stomach for the first time in two weeks Stiles wordlessly handed him a glass of water with two pills as he shuffled back towards the bed, stroking his arm with gentle touches as they both waited for the pills to become effective.

Aiden’s miracle-cure entered his system quickly, but the drowsiness and urge to sleep followed almost immediately and Derek was disappointed when he realized there was no way he would be able to accompany his family to their planned family outing at the arcade.

Stiles looked like he didn’t want to go either, but Derek insisted, already imagining the disappointment on his children’s faces.

He fell asleep to the murmured sounds of Stiles getting their children ready and when he woke up two hours later, feeling a lot better but still a little exhausted, he was surprised to find a very warm little ball of werewolf curled up against his side, little nose pushed into his belly and leaving no doubt as to which of his children had elected to stay behind.

“Hey Cas,” he said gently and Cas stretched, making a little mewling sound that reminded Derek of a cat when he snuggled even closer.

“Hey Papa,” he responded and Derek carefully nudged his nose against his youngest child’s forehead, nuzzling him affectionately.

Derek’s illness had been hard on all of his children but Cas had probably missed him the most, too young to fully understand what was going on, yet still being sensitive enough to smell his father’s misery.

It filled Derek with profound relief and happiness to sense the contentment coming from his youngest son.

“Did you not want to go to the arcade?” he asked and Cas shook his head, sleepy, large hazel eyes blinking at him earnestly.

“Needed to protect you and the puppies,” he informed Derek and the older werewolf smiled fondly, pushing himself into a sitting position and allowing Cas to settle himself in the crook of his arm while he reached for his phone.

“Do we need to come home, how are you?”

Stiles sounded tense and Derek sighed.

“I’m feeling good, but I was wondering why you left Cas behind?” he asked and Stiles coughed.

“Well, we were almost out to the car when your child decided he didn’t want to go after all because – and I quote – someone had to protect the puppies while you were sleeping and nothing could convince him to come with us. The moment he was unbuckled he marched straight up to our room and snuggled up to you. I wanted to wake you up to tell you he was here but you were out cold and then Leo-Pie started lecturing me on werewolf instincts and protective urges – she is getting much better at using big words correctly, by the way, our children are smart, I tell you – and I figured he wasn’t going to budge until you woke up so I eventually decided it would be fine.”

There was a short pause and when Stiles spoke next he sounded a bit alarmed.

“He’s fine, right? He didn’t do something stupid, right?”

Derek shrugged.

“We’re fine. Wake me up next time though, alright?”

The occasionally overprotective mother-hen inside Derek wanted to be a little miffed at his mate but Leonie had been right – Cas would not have strayed from Derek’s side until he woke up and it wasn’t as if Derek wasn’t aware that Stiles was sometimes uncertain as to how much responsibility he could actually expect from their werewolf children.

“I solemnly swear I will be up to only good from now on,” Stiles responded sheepishly and Derek grinned.

Cas was becoming more awake now and Derek ended the call, smiling at his son when Cas sat up expectantly.

“Playtime Papa?” he asked, sounding hopeful yet a little uncertain and Derek, determined to prove to his youngest that his Papa was indeed back for good, nodded.

Leonie, who, to Derek’s great astonishment, still remembered the weeks of playing fairy tales that had led up to Noah’s birth when Derek had been on bed rest, still liked to dress her brothers up in costumes to reenact her favorite stories and unlike Noah, who was quite possibly getting to be a little too introverted to fully appreciate playing make-belief, Cas greatly enjoyed it.

Twenty minutes later Derek found himself lying on a lounge-chair outside, pretending to be the Bad Wolf while Cas, dressed in Stiles’ old red Lacrosse jersey, was busily inspecting his ears, mouth, and eyes for signs of his wolfy nature.

Why his children were so fascinated with the story of Red Riding Hood Derek would never understand.

“Grandma, why are your eyes so big?” Cas recited and Derek suppressed a sigh when he responded according to the script.

“Grandma, why are your ears so big?” Cas continued and Derek closed his eyes briefly, shifting just so his ears became pointy and his teeth became a bit sharper.

He had not shifted in a long time, not even during the full moons, too afraid that the exertion would wreak havoc on his already HG-weakened system and he froze when there was a sudden fluttering in his belly.

Cas looked at him questioningly, his little hands hovering near Derek’s belly almost instinctively.

“Puppies?” he asked and Derek smiled brightly.

“Puppies,” he confirmed, one hand placed against the spot where he had felt the fluttering.

He shouldn’t have been surprised, he had started feeling Cas and Noah move around this time as well, but he had somehow lost track of how far along he actually was since he was still convinced that he was still a little too small for someone carrying twins during a fourth pregnancy.

“Can I feel?” Cas asked, sounding genuinely excited and Derek smiled softly, taking his hand and placing it on his belly.

“You might not be able to Cas, it will take another couple of weeks until they are strong enough to kick so hard that you can feel it on the outside,” he explained and Cas pushed his entire face against his side, ears twitching as he concentrated.

“Puppy!” he exclaimed when the fluttering came again and Derek, who had always been certain that Leonie would probably be the next Alpha in the family, stared at his third child in wonder.

It really was uncanny how in control of his senses his little mini-me was, much better than he had been at his age.

“That’s right Cas,” he confirmed and Cas, who seemed to have forgotten about the fairy tale, pushed his face into the other side of Derek’s stomach, frowning in confusion.

“Other puppy sleeping?” he asked and Derek, who could hear both heartbeats and knew they were fine, nodded.

“Puppy wants to shift, too,” Cas observed when the fluttering came for the third time and Derek slowly shifted back, a sad smile on his face as he traced his left side, the one with the movement that was obviously coming from Baby A.

Between his, Aiden’s and now Cas’ combined instincts there really was no doubt that Baby A was a werewolf and he really hoped that at least Baby B was a human.

He was reading a book to Cas on the couch when Stiles and his older children came back and it wasn’t until they were lying under the covers that night that Stiles finally voiced his concern about Derek’s silence during dinner.

“What are you brooding about?” he asked gently and Derek sighed.

“As long as our children are healthy that’s really all that matters … but I’m starting to believe they are both werewolves,” he explained, recounting the events in the garden to his mate and though there was a soft smile on Stiles’ face when he stroked Derek’s stomach, his eyes were a little sad.

“Noah won’t take that well. He spent half of today telling me about his human babies while Leonie was beating teenagers that were much older at all these games because none of them can match her reflexes. He’s going to be devastated,” he mused and Derek nodded.

“I really don’t care if they are boys or girls, or one of each, but I really want one to be human and I feel like a speciesist,” he said and Stiles laughed.

“That’s not even a word, you just made that up. But I know how you feel. I like having kids that don’t get sick, but I don’t like watching Noah feel left out all the time.”

He pressed his lips against Derek’s skin, winking at his mate before he focused his attention on the soft curve.

“Hey kiddos, Daddy speaking. I just wanted to tell you that we’ll still love you to bits and pieces if you aren’t humans, please don’t have a complex if you are werewolves.”

Derek chuckled.

“I really think they’ll understand,” he said and Stiles shrugged.

“We keep saying we want either one or both to be human … if they _are_ werewolves they can totally hear that and we need to make sure they know they are loved either way.”

Derek smiled.

“We might be doofuses sometimes when it comes to the parenting but I am pretty sure that the one thing our children know is that they are very much loved,” he said and Stiles gave him one of the most besotted smiles Derek had ever seen on his mate’s face.

“Sappy Wolf,” he whispered and Derek smiled.

“I love you,” he responded, smile turning into a wide grin when Stiles whispered, “I know.”

They were almost asleep when Stiles suddenly poked his elbow and when Derek turned around his mate looked a little concerned.

“Do you think our oldest will still know she is loved when puberty really hits this house?” he asked and Derek shook his head.

“Nope – but I’m confident she’ll remember at least every now and then.”

Stiles groaned.

“Are we crazy for setting ourselves up for puberty drama times five?” he asked and Derek nodded.

“Yep,” he grinned, chuckling when Stiles flipped on his belly and buried his face in his pillow.

“Give me Kanimas, rogue werewolves, witches, spider-monsters, or the Yeti, I can handle all that, but the thought of our daughter going through puberty gives me nightmares,” he mumbled and Derek patted his back comfortingly.

“Just wait until she starts dating.”

He almost bit his tongue with laughter when Stiles shot him a dirty look – it wasn’t that he was looking forward to their daughter growing up for good, but he was pretty sure that Stiles’ reaction to their oldest child entering the dating game would be quite humorous to behold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be up at some point during the weekend and feature a gender-reveal and a little teenage-drama.
> 
> As promised in the beginning note (and because I appreciate you very much my loyal readers), here are some more things that you can expect in this story:
> 
> \- more teenage drama  
> \- the 'scary things' Stiles has been dreading for 12 years  
> \- a baby-naming method that turns into 'fun' for the whole family  
> \- an act of teenage rebellion that has Derek getting angrier at one of his kids than he's ever been  
> \- a heart-to-heart between Derek and Noah  
> \- a very happy Jackson  
> \- witches  
> ... and the mother of all cliffhangers


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Derek has a gender-reveal appointment and his entire family tugs along

_April 30 th (19 Weeks)_

At the end of April Derek wanted to laugh at Derek-From-Two-Weeks-Ago, the one that had continued to fret over how small his belly was considering there were two children inside.

He wasn’t sure when exactly it had happened but he had somehow gone from a bulge that was pronounced when he wore tight shirts but barely noticeable if he wore a sweater to a stomach that looked like he had accidentally ingested a small detonating device that had since blown up inside of his belly overnight.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to this sort of thing, he had experienced it with both Cas and Noah after all, but as they got into the car to drive to the animal clinic that afternoon, Derek was pretty sure that he had last been this big when he had been at least 24 weeks pregnant with Cas, making him a little worried if that was actually normal.

“Twins Derek, don’t forget about Baby B and besides, you really need to make up your mind about what you want,” Stiles said teasingly as he struggled to fasten the seatbelt, grinning sheepishly while they waited for Leonie and Noah to hash out who would sit in the middle.

Cas was still riding in his car seat, but Noah was getting tall enough to no longer need a booster seat, making him – in Leonie’s eyes – eligible to take the most uncomfortable seat in the car.

“We _really_ need to get a new car,” Derek muttered under his breath before he turned around and told Leonie to stop fussing like a baby, putting just enough Alpha in his voice to stop her from snapping back at him, though the glint in her eyes suggested that their almost-12 year old was not at all happy with her fathers right now.

She had been extremely irritable for days and although Derek _hoped_ that Cora had been joking when she had commented during their last phone conversation that his tales of teenage-daughter woes sounded suspiciously like PMS, he wasn’t holding his breath.

He had been waiting for this to happen ever since the week after her 11th birthday, when Lydia, her expression somewhere between resigned and judgmental, had picked up their oldest for a shopping trip and taken her to buy bras.

Leonie, completely unaware of the “My little girl is growing up, soon she’ll think Daddies are no longer cool and oh my god Derek, where is the ice-cream, this is a disaster!” melt-down Stiles had suffered in her absence, had proudly informed her fathers about the pros and cons of different brands over dinner that night.

Derek had tried his best to show appropriate enthusiasm while simultaneously stroking Stiles’ hand under the table comfortingly and trying to answer Cas and Noah’s confused questions about why they didn’t have bras.

To both fathers’ relief the novelty of the bras had soon worn off, but they had both read enough books on raising girls as a single father to know that the _event_ Stiles had been dreading ever since before they had known she was a girl was sliding its way onto the table.

Stiles had started to frequently reminded Derek of his promise to be the one to have that talk with her when the situation arose and Derek had retaliated by cooking chicken for dinner whenever Stiles made such a comment.

It had taken his mate almost four months to catch on to the not so hidden meaning.

As Leonie continued to sulk on the middle seat, radiating enough bad attitude to keep her brothers very calm and refrain from poking her and teasing her like they normally did, Derek, who was absolutely not looking forward to that moment, swore to himself that if they were having another girl his mate would be the one to have that conversation with her.

He simply wouldn’t take no for an answer.

By the time they reached the clinic Leonie seemed to be in a slightly better mood and Derek couldn’t help but smile when he could already hear Deaton and Aiden’s heated voices as they walked towards the exam room.

It had been hate at first sight between the two of them and Derek was expecting them to whip it out and compare with a ruler any day now.

Despite the blunder with Noah’s gender-reveal, Deaton had always been the primary authority on any medical issues surrounding Derek’s pregnancies and the vet was clearly having a hard time giving that control over to Aiden, who was undoubtedly better qualified, even if he didn’t have three male Alpha-pregnancy observation experiences under his belt.

They were supposed to share information, since Deaton was of course excited about adding chapters about multiple pregnancies and werewolf HG to the upcoming third edition of his book, but Aiden was less than forthcoming, arguing that the vet was trying to tell him what to do rather than sit and learn.

It was as amusing as it was annoying and when they reached the exam room Deaton’s normally cool expression was thunderous, while Aiden was wearing the smuggest smirk Derek had ever seen on his face.

“Are we ready to find out what you guys are having?” Aiden greeted them and Derek suppressed a sigh.

Of course – the gender reveal.

It was no wonder that Deaton was so agitated.

Stiles and Derek had debated whether they wanted to find out the gender of the babies or not for weeks, with frequent input from all of their children.

Cas, who loved hearing the story of how his Daddy had thought he was a girl while his Papa had known he was a boy all along – Stiles had not been surprised when Derek had finally admitted it, though he had pretended to be upset for all of five minutes – was on Derek’s side and had voted for a surprise, while his siblings and Stiles were eager to find out the babies’ gender.

Noah had suggested a compromise of only finding out one baby’s gender, but both Derek and Stiles had disagreed, arguing that knowing one gender would make the curiosity for the other even worse.

In the end Derek, who had felt powerless against the onslaught of Noah, Leonie, _and_ Stiles’ puppy dog eyes had agreed to find out what they were having and as he made himself comfortable on the exam table he found himself getting excited.

The boy-girl balance among the pack-children was relatively even and he didn’t really have a preference for one or the other, but he was pretty sure that at least one of the babies was a girl, not because of the month-long struggle with extreme morning sickness, but because now that he was actually able to concentrate on something besides nausea, he felt a lot like he had when he had carried Leonie, without really being able to explain the difference.

Stiles had been mostly quiet about any preferences and after some gentle prompting by his mate last night had finally confessed that he was mostly just relieved that the children were healthy despite all the earlier complications.

He had added that although he would love for Leonie to experience having at least one sister, his smile growing wistful over having another little baby girl in the house, he was quite sure that their princess would be able to boss around four brothers just as well as she could two.

Derek was pretty sure Cas, who got equally spoiled by his brother and sister and could therefore see the advantages of either, didn’t care one way or the other, while Noah was not shy about his wish for two baby sisters.

Noah loved Cas deeply and he would have never begrudged his little brother the close bond he had with his big sister, but Derek often wondered if Noah’s wish for a human sister had to do with the fact that he had been Leonie’s world for years before Cas had come along and shared so much more of her abilities, personality, and interests, even at his young age, pushing their older boy a little to the side.

Sometimes Derek almost wished that Noah would throw jealous temper tantrums – the silent acceptance he could see in his eyes often bothered him and neither he nor Stiles really knew what to do about it.

They couldn’t and didn’t want to stop Leonie and Cas from developing their abilities, but they also couldn’t take away Noah’s sadness while his siblings were off doing things that he either couldn’t do or that were just too dangerous for him.

Leonie herself, who had been most insistent on getting a little brother while Derek had carried Noah and relatively ambivalent during his third pregnancy, though she had been absolutely ecstatic to discover Cas was a boy, shrugged whenever her brothers or the other pack children asked her if she wanted a sister this time, responding that she just wanted the babies to be healthy.

While Derek was sure that she wanted the babies to be healthy, he was not a hundred percent convinced that his daughter was as un-invested in the gender of her younger siblings as she claimed to be, though he wasn’t sure where here preferences lay.

Stiles thought that she wanted a sister but was too afraid to say it, since chances were high that she would be getting another brother after two boys and Derek hesitantly agreed with him, though he wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that their daughter was hoping for at least one more brother.

“Any last minute predictions?” Aiden asked as he squirted gel on Derek’s stomach and Derek shrugged, grinning when Stiles playfully poked his upper arm.

“Yeah right Secret Wolf,” he said fondly, sending a little glare towards Deaton when it looked like the vet was about to make a snappy remark.

When the babies appeared on the screen Cas, who hadn’t attended any of Derek’s earlier appointments, climbed on Stiles’ lap, staring at the image with wide eyes.

“Did I look like that?” he whispered and Stiles nodded.

“All babies look like that when they are still inside a belly … but of course you only had one head and not two,” he explained gently as Aiden examined the babies, gently prodding Derek’s stomach to coax one of them to turn in a way that would allow him to get a good look at the heart.

“Baby A and Baby B are happy and healthy, their heartbeats are fine, and they are still developing right on schedule. Baby B here is a bit bigger, but a size difference is normal and no cause for concern. As I mentioned last time, they are fraternal twins and I can tell you Baby A’s gender with absolute certainty, but Baby B is not cooperating today I’m afraid. It might be more active next time, but right now it seems to be asleep and not in any position for me to be able to tell,” he said and Derek and Stiles looked at each other.

“Do we want to know one?” Stiles asked and before Derek could answer their children spoke up almost in unison, their emphatic ‘yes’ so loud that the werewolves in the room flinched.

“That answer _that_ question,” Aiden muttered, grinning smugly at Deaton as he positioned the wand to get a better image.

“Well, are we ready?” he asked and when all of them nodded he took a deep breath, looking like he was about to announce the next president of the country before he winked at Noah.

“Looks like you got your wish Noah – Baby A is definitely going to be a little sister.”

“Another little baby-girl?!” Stiles exclaimed, sounding equal parts shocked and excited, as if he hadn’t really believed it after his last wrong prediction and Derek smiled brightly, somewhat pleased that this instincts really _were_ pretty accurate.

The pleased look in his eye didn’t escape his mate, who planted a soft kiss on his lips and muttered “ _Secret_ Wolf!” under his breath before he hugged Noah, who was bouncing on his chair excitedly.

“Is it a human sister?” he asked and Aiden shrugged.

“That’s not something I can tell on an ultrasound image Noah. You’ll just have to wait and see I’m afraid,” he said and Derek shared a half-amused, half-worried look with Stiles when Noah pressed his hand against the side of Derek’s stomach and whispered, “Please be a human little sister,” to his belly.

“On which side is Baby A again?” Stiles asked and Aiden, who had begun wiping Derek’s stomach while the machine printed off the pictures, pointed towards his left side.

“Did you hear that Princess? You are a little princess!” Stiles beamed, fingers splayed over Derek’s abdomen and Derek laughed when their daughter kicked, the fluttering still too soft for Stiles to be able to feel from the outside, but undeniable to him at this point.

“Princess? Like Leonie?” Cas asked, his eyes still wide as he was obviously trying to process the new information, and Stiles nodded.

“Yes Cas, just like Leonie,” he confirmed, turning towards their oldest child to get her confirmation.

Leonie’s expression was unreadable as she stared at the still-image on the screen and as the silence stretched on Derek turned towards her as well, his eyebrows rising questioningly as their daughter attempted a happy smile.

“Yeah, that’s great,” she said and judging by the look on Stiles’ face one did not have to have lie-detecting werewolf abilities to realize that their daughter considered this new development anything but great.

“How are the pills working on the new schedule?” Aiden said quickly, once again obviously not in the mood to be present for any Hale-Stilinski family drama and Derek turned towards their doctor, answering his questions as best as he could while Stiles continued to stroke his hand.

In the past four weeks he had regularly taken the pills that Aiden had manufactured, first twice a day, then daily, and now he was taking them every other day, a sign that his body was finally healing.

When Aiden was satisfied with his answers he released them, fist-pumping Noah on his way out.

Their oldest son was more excited than Derek had seen him in a long time, firmly convinced that Baby B was a girl as well and already planning out which books to read to them if they got sick and had to lie in bed being bored.

It made Derek’s heart clench. Although he really didn’t care what the other baby’s gender was, he was more certain than ever that at least one baby was a werewolf and he was still doubtful if human/werewolf twins were actually possible, regardless of whether they were fraternal or identical.  

He was able to school his features back into a neutral expression before Noah caught on to it but Stiles gave him a sad little smile of understanding, expression shifting to confusion when Leonie opened the car door with much more force than necessary and wordlessly hopped inside.

Derek shrugged. He had no idea why their oldest was upset, but he was confident she would clue them in on it soon enough.

Noah didn’t stop chattering about his little sister until they reached their home and once Stiles stopped the car Leonie hopped out of the backseat, not even bothering to help Cas unbuckle as she normally did and striding towards the house without a word.

Stiles looked like he was debating whether to ask her what was wrong or not as he opened the door, but Leonie beat him to it, marching up the stairs to her room and slamming the door shut behind her before Derek had even taken off his shoes in the hallway.

“Our daughter is … unhappy,” Stiles observed with a frown and Derek sighed, the exhaustion of the HG-medication he had taken in the car already setting in.

“She’s been unhappy with us for days,” he muttered, smiling at his mate gratefully when he wrapped his arm around Derek’s waist and steered him towards the couch.

“Should we go and talk to her about it? Find out what’s bothering her?”

“I’m not a mind-reader, but I am pretty sure the latest in a long line of offenses we have committed against her in the past two weeks is the baby sister,” Derek answered, stroking the left side of his abdomen where they knew their second daughter to be.

“Why in the world would she be unhappy about a baby sister? She loves Emilia! And Polly!” Stiles protested and Derek shrugged, heaving another deep sigh as his eyes started to fall shut.

“Maybe she’s jealous,” he muttered and Stiles snorted.

“Jealous? That child doesn’t have a jealous bone in her body. Besides, she’s almost 12 and much too old for that sort of thing. That can’t be it. It’s something else and it’s probably our fault. I’ll find out what it is, there must be at least some clues, don’t you agree Derek? Derek?”

Derek was asleep, his face relaxed as his chest rose and fell gently and Stiles smiled fondly, leaning over and pressing a kiss on either side of Derek’s stomach.

“Hey Princess! I’m your Daddy and I love you so much! If you are only half as awesome as your big sister you will be amazing and I’ll totally man up and give you the talk when you’re older, I think your Papa won’t let me off the hook next time. And if your little womb-mate is a girl as well, I’ll also give her the talk, but I’ll do it at the same time, so I’ll only have to do it once.”

He turned towards the other side of Derek’s stomach, gently placing his hand on it.

“Don’t be mad at me for not having a single clue what you are Baby B, that doesn’t mean I love you any less. You were such a surprise, but we’re so glad you decided to join us as well.”

Since Derek would be sleeping for at least two or three hours, Stiles got up in search of his sons, curious to see where Noah had dragged Cas off to the moment they had set foot in the house and when he found them he couldn’t get his camera-phone out quickly enough.

Noah had gotten into the make-up case Lydia had left at their place on her last visit and had apparently decided to prepare for his little sister’s arrival by learning how to do a make-over.

Cas’ face was covered in powder, eye-liner, and lipstick and he didn’t seem to mind at all, for once not fidgeting and sitting down patiently as Noah continued to work.

“What are you doing Noah-Boa?” Stiles chuckled and Noah grinned triumphantly.

“Make-Up Daddy. If my sisters need help they can come to me!”

“That’s nice of you Noah. Maybe Leonie would like to help, too?” Stiles offered and Noah shook his head with a frown.

“Leonie’s make-up is _stupid_ ,” he informed his father and Stiles was almost sure he could hear a growl coming from the next room, where Leonie was still sulking.

“Your sister’s make-up is not stupid,” he admonished his son, even though he tended to agree with him.

They weren’t allowing her to go to school with make-up yet, but their daughter had lately been experimenting with different colors and was apparently under the impression that the more the colors on your face clashed with your clothes, the better.

He hoped that Lydia would stage a make-up intervention before their oldest got to High School, which was the earliest time that both Derek and Stiles had agreed she could wear make-up outside the house.

Leonie didn’t know about that particular rule yet, and he wasn’t looking forward to that conversation at all.

Speaking of his oldest daughter – it felt strange to think of her as his oldest, rather than his only daughter, but he found himself quickly getting used to the idea – Stiles decided to knock on her door, hoping that she had cooled off enough to tell him what was bothering her.

“Can I come in Leo-Pie?” he asked and the door opened to reveal a rather sullen face.

“I’m tired Daddy, I want to sleep,” she said, closing the door again, but Stiles put his foot between the frame and the door, looking at her sternly.

“What’s wrong Leo-Pie? Talk to me baby-girl,” he said softly and Leonie grunted.

“I’m not a baby-girl anymore _Dad_. I’m not feeling well, can I please go to sleep?”

One of these days Stiles would have to send his own father a gift-basket in apology, wondering if the transition from Daddy to Dad had been as painful for his father as it was for himself.

“I wish you would tell me what’s wrong Leonie,” he said and Leonie shrugged.

“Nothing’s wrong, I promise. I’m just not feeling well.”

His werewolf daughter obviously thought he had forgotten that it was almost impossible for her to feel physically ill, but he wasn’t really sure how to coax the truth out of her and he pulled his foot back, sighing deeply as he ruffled her hair.

“I’m making dinner in an hour,” he told her and Leonie nodded, biting her lip as she closed the door again.

Whatever was bothering her seemed serious and Stiles scratched his head in frustration as he walked back down the stairs to get started on chopping vegetables.

Raising a moody teenager (supposedly the teenage years didn’t start until 13, but their almost 12-year old was apparently getting an early start) really wasn’t fun and he resolved to send his father another gift-basket.

Just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whatever could be wrong with little Leonie ... haha, yeah, I know, it's obvious, but her fathers remain clueless for now.
> 
> Next Up: Papa-Daughter Day doesn't go as well as Derek had hoped, Leonie admits what's bothering her ... and Stiles might or might not be responsible for Noah's nightmare about toilet-dwelling vampires.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Puberty and the scary things ahead ;-)

_May 11 th (20 Weeks)_

Derek did not identify as his children’s mother and the children had never asked for him to do so, accepting their parents’ explanation of Alphas who could carry children with surprising ease that was probably due to the fact that one of their parents occasionally turned into a wolf.

Nevertheless, Stiles had apologized profusely before shoving a big present into Derek’s hands a month before Leonie’s first birthday, whispering that it was Mother’s Day and not getting Derek anything simply hadn’t felt right and Derek had accepted the present with only a little bit of grumbling, not overly happy that Stiles hadn’t waited until Father’s Day, but deciding that it was ridiculous to put up a fuzz over a day that had pretty much been invented by flower shop owners around the world.

Nevertheless, in the years following that first present Derek had turned Mother’s Day into a Papa-Daughter-Day, a special day for just him and his first-born.

As the boys had come along they had added an annual Papa-First Son and Papa-Second Son Day as well, but neither of their sons had ever been as enthusiastic about it as Leonie about her Papa-Daughter Day and therefore Derek was deeply hurt when his oldest child’s expression turned into stone when he picked her up from school that afternoon.

Derek had thought about what he wanted to do with Leonie for days, aware that the progressing pregnancy was somewhat limiting his options of public exposure and he had finally decided to drive her up to Lydia’s lake-house for a day.

It was a Friday and therefore he had stacked the cooler with Leonie’s favorite food and drinks, hopeful that Almost-Puberty Leonie would be as happy about a werewolf-skill-training session with additional sleep-over party at the lake as Pre-Puberty Leonie would have been.

As her Alpha Derek had always been in charge of training Leonie’s werewolf skills, and the older Cas had gotten the more difficult it had become to keep him from attempting things that he was simply too young for, despite his excellent control for his age.

At 20 weeks pregnant with twins there were some limits to what Derek himself could do, but he had high hopes that Leonie would finally master tracking.

He hadn’t even though about checking with his daughter about her own plans, since Leonie was always excited about spending some one-on-one time with either of her fathers and loved sleep-overs at the lake-house, but when he told her about the plans on the drive up there Leonie actually whined, claiming that she had made plans with a friend from school.

Derek could tell she was lying, which hurt his feelings even more and almost prompted him to turn the car around before he was able to stop himself _and_ his out-of-whack hormone situation.

Leonie had barely spoken to him ever since the gender-reveal and neither Stiles nor he himself had been able to get her to tell them what was wrong.

So far they had ruled out trouble in school, trouble with friends, and boy-trouble (the latter of which had sent Stiles into an almost-panic) and unlike Stiles, Derek was starting to believe that their generous, loving oldest child was actually getting jealous of her unborn sister, though he still couldn’t figure out why Leonie would develop sibling-jealousy all of a sudden after all these years.

It was one of the reasons for why he had decided to go through with the trip, since Leonie’s main problem currently seemed to be with him. She was quieter around Stiles, too, but she had barely even looked at him in the past couple of days and that kind of behavior simply had to stop.

His ‘shock-therapy’ approach of trapping her at a lake-house where she didn’t have a choice but to interact with him probably wasn’t the best of parenting decisions he had ever made, but it was too late now.

When they got to the house Leonie hopped out of the car and grabbed the overnight bag Derek had packed for her before making her way to the guestroom, leaving Derek to carry the cooler and his own bag inside.

He was a little tired after the drive and so he sat down on the comfortable sofa, resting his feet on the ottoman and nibbling on some crackers – he hadn’t felt nauseous in three weeks now thanks to the pills but he was still careful about what he ate – and after a while Leonie actually emerged out of the room, filling a glass of water in the kitchen before she sat down on the carpet in front of the sofa, crossing her legs as she stared at Derek almost defiantly.

“What _now_ Papa?” she asked and Derek sighed.

“Now you are going to tell me what’s wrong and then we’ll celebrate Papa-Daughter Day like normal,” he told her and Leonie scoffed.

“Nothing’s wrong Papa, why won’t any of you believe me?” she huffed and Derek shook his head.

“You know I know you are lying Baby-Girl. I just don’t know why,” he said calmly, the slightest hint of Alpha in his voice and Leonie shook her head.

“It’s … Papa, I don’t want to talk about it, can’t you just let it go? Please?”

Derek shook his head.

“You haven’t even really me in the eye in days Leo-Pie. I want to know what I did to you and how I can make it right,” he said as patiently as possible and Leonie shook her head again, frustration creeping into her voice.

“You didn’t do anything Papa, it’s … I _don’t_ want to talk about it, ok?”

She had raised her voice on the last sentence and Derek gave her a stern look.

“Don’t use that tone with me Leonie! Something is wrong but we cannot fix it if you don’t start talking!”

“Well, maybe we _can’t_ fix it, have you ever thought about _that_?” his daughter exclaimed, getting up and staring at Derek with furious tears in her eyes.

Derek blinked, not sure why there were suddenly tears involved.

“Leonie … I don’t want to force you to tell me …” he began, only to be interrupted by his daughter who huffed “Then don’t!” before storming out of the living room and out of the house.

Derek was still tired but now he was also a little annoyed, though part of his anger was directed at himself for trying to force their child into telling him what was wrong when she clearly didn’t want to talk about it.

When he walked outside he immediately noticed that Leonie had wandered off into the little stretch of woods that began behind the house and he locked the door with an exasperated sigh before he went after her, careful not to trip over the many branches and twigs on the ground as he was still trying to get used to his new gravity center.

His daughter had clearly been running, a strategy she often used to cool off if she got mad, and Derek hoped she hadn’t run too far, since he was not feeling fit enough to sprint after her.

He called out to her but received no response and one hour later Derek was drenched in sweat, really tired, and seriously angry.

“Leonie!” he roared, putting the Alpha-tone in his voice after all as he sunk down on a tree stump to catch his breath and after two minutes his daughter shot around a large tree, frantic concern on her face turning to defiance when she saw that Derek was unharmed.

“I don’t want to talk Papa!” she whispered and Derek, who was rubbing his aching back and fighting off a headache, growled.

“That’s good for you, but we are talking now. I’m done with this attitude Leonie. I want to know why you have been treating me and Daddy like we did something horrible to you and I want to know why you can’t even look at my stomach anymore without smelling upset. Daddy and I think you are unhappy about getting a little sister, but we don’t understand _why_. You never acted this way with either Noah or Cas. Make me understand why you are doing it now, please Baby-Girl!” he said firmly and Leonie’s lips trembled.

“I don’t want to be replaced Papa” she finally whispered and Derek did a double take.

“ _What_? Why would we ever replace you, don’t be ridiculous Leonie!” he said, sounding as flabbergasted as he felt and Leonie made a high-pitched protest sound.

“Daddy said he hoped you guys would have another little girl because I was no longer your little girl and you agreed with him Papa!” she whimpered and Derek’s eyes widened.

“No one said anything like that Leo-Pie, where did you even get the idea?”

“But Daddy _did_ Papa, the night before we found out one baby was a girl. You guys were so happy, you wanted to have a new little girl because I was no longer good enough!”

Big tears were rolling down her cheeks as she stared at Derek.

“You wanted a _new_ princess,” she breathed, sounding utterly betrayed and Derek groaned.

“Leo-Pie, baby … Daddy said you were growing up and he was afraid that _you_ didn’t want to be our little girl anymore, but that doesn’t mean you _aren’t_ our little girl or that you’ll ever not be. You’ll _always_ be our little girl, no matter how old you are or how many little sisters you have. We thought you’d be happy if you got to experience having a little sister as well,” he said and Leonie’s lips trembled even more.

“What if she’s nicer than me? Noah is only talking about her now and I think he loves her more than me already, what if you and Daddy will love her more than me, too?” she exclaimed and Derek rubbed his temples with a sigh.

“Leo-Pie. I’ll always love all of my children the same and I will never love anyone more than you and your brothers. Do you think Daddy and me loved Noah any less when Cas was born?”

Leonie shook her head.

“No … but Papa, Noah thinks …”

“Noah is talking about your sister all the time because he wants her to be a human baby. He is sad that he is always the only one who gets sick and that he can’t play some of the werewolf games you play with Cas, but that doesn’t mean he loves the baby more than you,” he explained and Leonie sobbed.

“But I only do that because I don’t want him to get hurt Papa! Cas plays really roughly sometimes and if he did that with Noah, Noah would maybe break his arm again or worse!”

Derek smiled at her encouragingly.

“So what you are saying is that you love your brothers the same, but they are different people and you do different things with them?” he asked and Leonie nodded.

“Of course I do! Noah is _silly_ if he thinks I love Cas more than him! They are both my little brothers!” she protested and Derek reached over so he could grab her hand, pressing it against the left side of his belly with a gentle smile.

“See? And you and your baby sister will both be my daughters and I will love you both the same, even if the new baby has a completely different personality than you. And if the second baby is a girl as well, then I’ll love all three of my daughters just the same. I don’t really understand how you could think any different, but I promise you Leo-Pie, you will always be my little girl, even when you are an adult,” he said and Leonie sniffled.

“I love my little sister, too,” she whispered, the words the last warning Derek got before she threw herself into his arms and started bawling. Derek stroked her back comfortingly, grateful that he had finally been able to get to the source of the problem and a little worried about his daughter’s emotional state.

She wasn’t like this at all normally and if this was what puberty was like he really wanted her to stay little forever.

They were silent for a while until Leonie turned her face towards his again, expression somber.

“Does Noah really think I love Cas more than him?”

Derek stroked her head slowly, carefully selecting his words when he answered her.

“No. He knows you love him. You just spend more time with Cas than with Noah and it hurts his feelings. Daddy and I know that you guys have to do werewolf things and that some of them are too dangerous for Noah and Noah knows it as well, but that doesn’t make it easier for him.”

“Do you want me to take Noah with us when Cas and I try out our abilities?” Leonie sounded sincere and Derek shook his head.

“No. Showing it to him would only make it worse if he can’t join. But maybe you guys can come up with more things that all three of you can do? Or maybe something special for just the two of you? He misses being doted on by his big sister,” Derek explained and Leonie scratched her nose.

“I’ll think of something Papa,” she promised, resting her cheek against his side and smiling softly.

“Hey Sissy … you better be a human baby, you’ve got a big brother who’s counting on it,” she whispered and Derek chuckled, resting his hand on the right side of his abdomen.

“Don’t forget about Baby B,” he reminded her and Leonie reached out her arm until she could place her palm next to his hand.

“You should be human, too, Cas and me can protect the two of you and Noah just fine.”

She turned her face towards Derek’s, looking curious.

“Will they look exactly the same? Like Doctor Aiden and Doctor Ethan?”

Derek shook his head.

“If they did we would already know if Baby B is a little boy or girl. They are fraternal twins, so even if Baby B is a girl, she might look completely different.”

Leonie grinned.

“At least one of them has to look like Noah, maybe he won’t feel left out if he has a sibling that looks like him. Cas and I don’t look like him at all.”

Derek, who was pretty sure that a little girl who looked like Stiles would be adorable, tended to agree.

He grinned at his oldest daughter and Leonie grinned back, her entire posture and face much more relaxed than she had been in days and Derek found himself smiling widely, relieved that they had finally solved the little crisis.

He knew it was just the first of many, but as they slowly began to walk back to the cabin he also knew that whatever challenge puberty would throw at them, they would be ok.

 

=================

 

Stiles looked like he wanted to cry with relief when Derek brought back their happy, mostly well-mannered child rather than the moody pod-person that had, in his mate’s opinion, been masquerading as their oldest daughter for over a week and for three days things in the Hale-Stilinski household were as harmonious as ever.

Derek slowly continued to wean himself off the medication, the babies were starting to move more often, Noah was still over the moon about the discovery that there was another sister on the way, and Cas was just happy that his beloved older sister wanted to play with him again rather than spend all day in her room and growl.

On the third day after Derek and Leonie’s heart-to-heart at the lake house, however, a frantic Stiles shook Derek awake in the morning, hair standing every which way and a glint of maniacal panic in his eyes as he stared at his mate like his worst nightmare had just come true.

“What’s wrong, is it the children?!” Derek exclaimed, struggling to sit up, which was slowly becoming more and more difficult, yet ready to pounce to protect his children from danger, certain that only imminent death could have caused his mate to look at him with so much fear in his eyes.

Stiles took a gulping breath, eyes going even wider as he tore at his hair.

“It’s happening!” he whispered and Derek, who had forced himself to calm down long enough to make sure that all of his children’s heartbeats were normal and that there was no imminent danger after all, stared at him in confusion.

“What’s happening?” he asked and Stiles made a sound that was almost like a whine.

“Things … the _Scary Things_!” he whispered and had he not been weighed down by his ever-growing belly, Derek would have probably shot up to throttle him.

“You have _got_ to be kidding me! You can’t wake me up looking and sounding like someone is about to die just because …”

Stiles gave him an almost triumphant look when he couldn’t finish the sentence; dread settling over him as well when he remembered that he had foolishly volunteered to handle this particular crisis-assignment.

“Are you absolutely, positively, one-hundred percent sure?” he asked and Stiles nodded, still blinking like an overgrown owl.

“She’s locked herself in the bathroom and won’t come out! She’s been in there for half an hour! I asked her what was wrong and she told me to go away! Derek, we don’t have _things_ in the bathroom. What if she’s stuck on the toilet and can’t get up because she can’t … I don’t know … stop the bl … the bl … the blood!”

His mate was looking decidedly green now and Derek internally thanked the heaven’s that the universe had decided to make Stiles completely and utterly Derek-sexual, certain that no woman would have deserved a husband who turned that green at the thought of menstruation.

“Stiles … she can probably hear every word you are screeching right now!” Derek tried to hush him, groaning in defeat when Cas barreled into the room, hair standing up from his head even wilder than his daddy’s as he stared at Derek with wide, scared eyes.

“Leo-Pie bleeding? Who hurt my sister?!” he yelled loudly and Derek winced when he heard a sound coming from the bathroom that was clearly a mixture of embarrassed growling and frustration.

“ _You_ – downstairs, the both of you! Take Noah, too, we are horrible idiot-men, the four of us!” Derek snapped, tone softening when he grasped Cas’ face and stroked his cheeks comfortingly.

“No one hurt your sister, your sister is fine, Daddy is just a Silly Daddy who is going to make you and your brother some awesome breakfast now, ok?” Derek said quietly, giving Stiles an exasperated glare that successfully quieted his mate into hoisting their youngest on his hips and leaving their bedroom, muttering under his breath as he went.

Derek waited until Stiles had herded both of their sons down the stairs, smiling a little at Noah’s sleep-laden, confused voice, before he got up slowly and walked towards the bathroom, trying to compose himself before he knocked at the door.

“Leo-Pie?” he asked gently and when Leonie answered she sounded a bit flustered.

“Hey Papa, I’m totally not dying and it’s really not all that _scary_ , I promise, despite what Daddy seems to think I just … uhm … we don’t …”

“Daddy is going to drive to the store right now and get you something. Is there anything you’d … prefer? I read that … uhm … I read that the pads are easier in the beginning,” Derek said slowly, trying to keep his voice steady and not giving away the fact that he was currently hating everything and everyone in the universe.

He was sure that no father had ever managed to fail so utterly and completely at gently explaining menstruation to his scared teenage daughter, forcing her to barricade herself in a bathroom with nothing to take care of the situation.

A good father would have stocked a drawer in toilet-reaching distance just in case.

Or, quite possibly, would have manned up enough to talk to his daughter about it before the fact, so that she wouldn’t be overwhelmed when it actually happened.

Additionally, he really should have seen this coming.

Sniffing out one’s own daughter’s cycle was probably bound to be illegal, but his nose was still extremely sensitive _and_ he had been around enough women in his life to recognize the signs.

It was a bit of a controversial issue among werewolf families, in which privacy was always a bit of a problem, and one never actually spoke about it, but it was a unanimous consensus among most male werewolves to just … be a bit nicer and more careful with the female members of the pack on certain days of the month without making a fuss about it.

Yes, he really should have seen this coming from ten miles away.

“Oh god, please no! That’s really _not_ necessary Papa! I … could you go to my room? Third box from the right under my bed? There’s some stuff in there,” Leonie said, sounding almost frantic at the thought of her freaked-out daddy perusing the women’s hygiene section at the supermarket and Derek couldn’t blame her as he walked towards their daughter’s room, getting down on his knees with a small grunt as he grabbed the box.

It was filled with all kinds of sample products and after a second of contemplation he just brought the entire box, hoping against hope that Leonie would actually know what she needed and berating himself even more.

When he knocked on the door again there was a short pause and then Leonie peaked her head out and took the box from him, her cheeks burning just like Derek’s when she almost slammed the door shut.

Because he still felt like a failure Derek stayed in front of the door, nervously wringing his hands as he listened to Leonie rummaging through the box.

“I think there are instructions on the boxes,” he said somewhat lamely and Leonie made a noncommittal grunt, sounding a little embarrassed but also, Derek was relieved to note, somewhat amused.

“Do you … do you need me to call someone?” Derek tried again and this time Leonie actually laughed.

“Like _who_? Uncle Jackson? I’m fine Papa, I promise, just … can you stop listening? It’s a little awkward,” his almost twelve-year old responded and Derek sighed, electing to give her some space and retreating to the safety of their bedroom.

He was still wondering how they could possibly make it up to their daughter when Leonie appeared in the doorway, giving him a sheepish smile before she crawled onto the bed and curled herself into a little ball against his side with a soft groan.

“Do I … do we … do you want me to explain this to you Leo-Pie? Why this is happening and how it works?” Derek asked hesitantly and Leonie shook her head with a grimace.

“Aunt Lydia did that last year, when we went bra-shopping. She said she didn’t trust you and Daddy to not traumatize me for life.”

Derek sighed.

Of course.

“She thought it might not hurt because I’m a werewolf, but it does hurt Papa,” Leonie muttered and Derek winced.

“Is it bad Leo-Pie?”

Leonie shrugged.

“Not bad-bad. But it’s not good either.”

“Do you want me to …”

Leonie interrupted him, shaking her head quickly.

“Pain-leaching can’t be good for the babies, especially when you are still not completely back to your normal strength yet. No Papa, I can smell it, I know. You really don’t have to, it’s just … it’s a little weird right now.”

Derek nodded. He knew it was natural, but the knowledge that his little girl could actually get pregnant now, was not only weird, but also terrifying.

He was sure some of his thoughts were registering on his face because Leonie grinned at him, placing one hand on his abdomen as she snuggled closer.

“I’m not going to go and have my own baby now Papa. I know I can, but I really don’t want to throw up for four months in a row, you don’t have to worry.”

Derek sighed, partly because of the idea itself and partly because he was quite sure that his mother and Laura were currently scolding him from the afterlife, pointing out the fact that if anyone should be comforted at all it should probably not be him.

“I’m glad to know I’m serving as a good birth-control example,” he muttered and Leonie cocked her head in confusion.

“What’s birth control Papa?” she asked and Derek groaned.

“Aunt Lydia didn’t tell you that, huh?” he asked and Leonie shook her head.

“No Papa. What is it?”

Lydia was a she-devil and Derek would give her a call the minute his daughter was out of the house, that was for sure.

“It’s … something Daddy and I are going to talk to you about soon.”

“Does it have to do with sex?”

Leonie grinned at his pained expression, grimacing slightly as she fidgeted before the obvious cramp passed.

“You do remember that you talked to me about the special hugs that gave you babies rather than unicorns, right? I remember that Papa. Those special hugs are sex, right?”

“ _Soon_ ,” Derek repeated and Leonie laughed, obviously enjoying his embarrassment.

“I’m not going to have a baby Papa. I promise you.”

She held up her fingers in a pinkie-swear and Derek interlaced his own pinkie with hers, looking at her solemnly.

“I’ll hold you to that Leo-Pie. But only until you’re married and have a job, then I want to be a grandpa.”

“But you and Daddy didn’t get married until after I was born, why do I have to get married first?” Leonie protested and Derek shrugged.

“If you mate-bond that will do as well,” he relented and Leonie nodded.

“I think I can do that.”

Because she was lying on his side Derek had access to most of her back and he began to rub her tense muscles in soothing motions, almost as if she was still his little baby-girl and Leonie didn’t seem to have any complaints against that when she sighed.

Derek knew it was only a matter of time now before his oldest child determined that cuddle-time with her fathers was no longer cool, could remember his own increasing reluctance to participate in werewolf-puppy piles – not that that was a mandatory thing necessarily, but the need to be close to the pack did increase around the full moon – around her age and when Leonie spoke next she sounded almost sleepy.

He was rather glad that his back-rubbing skills were still excellent, especially since they would soon have to soothe _two_ babies to sleep.

Also, menstruating or not, Leonie was still his baby and she always would be, no matter how many little sisters – or brothers – she had.

“Hey Papa?” Leonie yawned and Derek grinned.

“Yes Leo-Pie?”

“We should totally make Daddy go to the supermarket to buy tampons after all. Aunt Lydia says you can never have enough of those because you need to stock all your jackets and purses,” she said and Derek chuckled.

“You think so? I don’t think Daddy would like that very much,” he answered and Leonie scoffed.

“Silly Daddy!” she murmured and Derek, who had wanted to throttle Stiles not even an hour ago, had to agree that sending Stiles to buy tampons and sanitary pads was probably the more appropriate punishment for freaking out half of their house because he couldn’t deal with life sometimes.

“You heard him, hmmm?” he asked and Leonie huffed.

“ _Everyone_ heard him, I could hear Noah asking him if there was a _scary_ , bloodsucking vampire living in our toilet while Daddy was making breakfast. He almost choked on his coffee,” she informed Derek and Derek, who had been too focused on his daughter to listen in, groaned.

Out of all of his children to believe that there was a vampire living in their toilet, Noah, gentle, cautious, and always-worried Noah, was definitely not the one.

“We should send Daddy out to buy tampons, sanitary pads, and garlic then,” Derek mumbled and Leonie giggled.

“If we tell him it will ward off the demon of menstruation he’ll totally do it Papa!” she grinned and Derek snorted.

“I’m sure he will.”

“Papa?”

“Yes Leo-Pie?”

“Now that I’m officially an adult – can I have a purse?”

 

================

 

“Do we need to give her _the talk_ now?” Stiles asked that night, looking quite miserable as he sat on the bed cross-legged with a big bowl of ice-cream, his go-to strategy whenever he felt their children were growing up too fast and – apparently – whenever he had to recover from a truly embarrassing afternoon at the supermarket.

Derek had almost regretted not having accompanied him to their local Sam’s Club when Stiles had come back lugging three large boxes of tampons and pads as if they were going out of season, his ears still burning bright red and his face covered in red stress-splotches.

He had also bought a hot water bottle, a massage ball, and chocolate, and Derek had had to hide his grin at Stiles’ mortification when Leonie had generously offered to share her treat with him, arguing that he might need the chocolate even more.

The look of mortification was back now and Derek shook his head.

“I think that particular talk can wait at least another year,” he assured his mate and Stiles sighed dramatically.

“Couldn’t Lydia have done that as well?” he muttered and Derek sighed deeply.

“About that … do we need to talk to her about this? We were both grateful that she took over the bra-shopping but I wish she had gotten permission first before telling our daughter about certain things,” he observed and Stiles shook his head firmly.

“No. No harm was done and she meant well. If she had also given her the actual sex-talk that would have been overstepping, but at the end of the day I’m not ashamed to admit that a woman is probably better suited to explain these things to a young girl and I’m actually quite grateful she was thoughtful enough to do it.”

He had a point and Derek nodded, albeit a bit grudgingly.

“I had a whole speech prepared,” he mused and Stiles grinned when he reached over and lightly patted the left side of Derek’s belly.

“There’s a little girl right here who probably can’t wait to hear it,” he said and Derek groaned.

“This little girl will have a big sister who will be able to explain it to her just fine,” he argued and Stiles laughed.

“Point taken Papa Wolf, though you are no longer allowed to accuse _me_ of being a chicken, you realize that, right?”

Derek shrugged with a grin.

“Still no insight about Baby B?” Stiles continued, hand now rubbing circles into Derek’s right side and though it was still too soft for Stiles to feel from the outside Derek gently pushed his hand towards the spot where Baby B had just said hello.

“I don’t have the slightest clue,” he confirmed and Stiles gave him a cheeky smile.

“I still don’t believe you one bit, but we’ll find out soon enough, right?”

Derek grinned.

“I’m sure we will.”

Derek might not have had any insight on the gender of the second baby, but he did have insight into why he found himself getting up at 3 in the morning that night to go save Noah from a nightmare, his son’s terrified whimpering loud enough to wake up all werewolves in the house.

After he had sent a half-asleep Cas and his bleary eyed big sister back to bed Derek stroked Noah’s hair comfortingly as his son recounted a horrifying tale of bloodsucking vampires who dwelt in toilets and liked to eat sisters and when Noah let out another whine at the idea of going back to sleep Derek picked him up with a sigh, carrying him over to their room.

Carrying either of his sons was getting to be quite a challenge but Noah, who was as long-limbed as Stiles and getting to be quite tall, had simply wrapped himself around Derek like an octopus and was refusing to let go.

Derek was seriously tempted to kick Stiles out of their bed so Noah would have enough room, wondering why exactly his mate hadn’t sufficiently assured Noah that there was no toilet-vampire and thus it gave him a certain degree of satisfaction when Noah, who slept like a starfish usually, accidentally kicked into his daddy’s behind in the morning, sending a startled Stiles over the edge of the bed and onto the ground with a loud thump, limbs flailing like an uncoordinated giraffe.

“ _Vampires_ ,” Derek mouthed at him when his mate’s red face appeared over the edge of their bed and Stiles had the good grace to look decidedly guilty.

Derek was no vindictive man, especially not when it came to his beloved mate, but it did give him pleasure to watch a cringing Stiles explain the concept of menstruation to their oldest son a couple of days later, after the fourth toilet-vampire nightmare in a row.

“I’m the one that’s going to have nightmares now,” Stiles mumbled that night as he slid into bed and Derek shrugged with a small grin, prompting Stiles to mutter “See if you’re still grinning when _I’m_ wrapped around you like an octopus, crying about traumatizing my children.”

Derek laughed, pointedly looking at his growing abdomen and raising his eyebrows as he chuckled “I’d like to see you try,” in response.

“Challenge accepted!” Stiles grinned, proceeding to do just that.

With his chuckling mate mostly wrapped around him and both children moving in a way that he assumed was their attempt to say “Silly Daddy!”, Derek had to admit that he felt decidedly content.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I thought about how I wanted the whole menstruation thing to go and decided it would have been rather unrealistic if none of the pack women and mothers, who have been listening to Stiles' fretting over the possibility that his baby-girl might grow up one of these days for years, would not have stepped in to avoid the disaster that would have happened had they left a panicked Stiles and Derek, whose approach to the whole thing was "I'll talk to her when I have to and before I'll just ... not think about it ... yeah ... that's what I'll do and you can't judge me," to their own parenting devices on this issue ;-). 
> 
> Next Up: Stiles tries turning Baby-Naming into a fun event for the whole family


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I appreciate all of your comments and kudos so much, just so you know!

_May 22 nd (22 Weeks)_

“This child is not even born yet and already testing my patience!” Stiles exclaimed one evening and though his eyes were sparkling humorously Derek could detect a slight hint of frustration in his mate’s voice.

It wasn’t as if he didn’t share the sentiment.

Earlier that day Aiden had spent almost forty minutes trying to coax their second baby to move into a position that would make it possible for him to detect its gender, but Baby B apparently had a flair for mystery, refusing to cooperate with the snarky doctor and leaving his or her parents once again in the dark.

“You should have followed the suggestions I found online last night,” Stiles continued and Derek rolled his eyes.

“I ate an energy bar half an hour before, that’s the extent of what I’m willing to do,” he commented, alluding to Stiles’ attempts to have him drink a gallon of water, which Derek, who really hadn’t wanted to pee all over the animal clinic’s exam table as if he was an actual dog, had refused to do.

“Why couldn’t they be identical? Then we’d already know what we’re having, also, can you imagine how adorable that would have been? We could have dressed them up in the same clothes, they would have fooled us by switching identities all the time and …”

“They would have fooled _you_ , not my werewolf senses, and besides, I hate it when people do that, it’s like you’re not even trying to make sure they develop their own personalities when the rest of the world almost automatically insists they are one person,” Derek snarked back, a little grimace on his face.

One of Derek’s most hated pregnancy symptoms, heartburn from hell, had recently made its reappearance and had put his beloved werewolf into a rather sour mood, pun unfortunately intended.

“Point taken _Sour_ Wolf,” Stiles muttered, regretting his choice of words immediately and wincing when Derek gave him an almost wounded look.

“I love you,” he mouthed at his mate, sighing in defeat when Derek turned his head away from him with a snap.

The past two weeks had been decidedly hormonal in the Hale house, with Leonie snapping at anything and everyone for four days until the scary things – Stiles knew he was being a baby about it but he still couldn’t handle the thought that his actual baby was now able to have babies, completely warranting the description of _scary_ – had gone away again and as soon as she had gone back to normal Derek had started flying off the handle at the smallest of things.

Cas, their little werewolf wonder boy extraordinaire, had become finely attuned to the subtle changes in Derek’s scent that came right before a meltdown, dutifully tugging Noah – and on occasion Leonie – out of the room and whispering “Papa is going baby-crazy” under his breath.

His five-year-old’s loyalty obviously didn’t extend to his daddy, who was usually the only one left in the room when the last drop made the barrel spill over.

Stiles had taken it in stride with ease for the first week, still too glad to see Derek being able to rant at him without turning green, collapsing, or having to throw up mid-sentence, but he really hoped that the daily explosions weren’t going to continue for the rest of the pregnancy.

It wasn’t that he minded the “I’m sorry, please forgive me, I love you” kisses that rained down on him after every outburst, and as far as hormones went he much preferred an angry and irritable Derek to a hysterically crying Derek, but Derek could be _loud_ when he got worked up and every time he did Jay-Jay chewed up someone’s shoe in protest.

 _Someone_ was usually Stiles, as if their dog had decided that it could only be his fault if Derek got angry.

Then again, no one was ever on Stiles’ side in their house, so he really shouldn’t have been surprised.

This time, however, Derek didn’t seem to be in the mood to let his hormones run amuck, sighing softly and turning towards Stiles again with a small smile, hand reaching out for Stiles’ and placing it on his belly.

Stiles was about to ask him what was wrong when he felt the unmistakable movement of one of their babies and he beamed proudly, switching from the couch to the couch table so he had access to both sides of his mate’s growing stomach.

Their other child, so far only known as Baby B, kicked as well and Stiles knew he probably looked like a kid in a candy store when he grinned at his mate, hands following the children’s movements.

“I hope they are not kicking each other,” he said worriedly and Derek laughed, resting his hands on top of his belly and shaking his head.

“I’m pretty sure they are too busy kicking my ribs for now,” he explained gently and Stiles dropped a quick kiss just above his navel, trying to look stern when he wiggled his eyebrows.

“Be nice to Papa!” he demanded turning towards the door when Cas shuffled into the living room.

“Babies not nice?” he asked worriedly and Derek shook his head with a smile, holding out his arms and allowing Cas to climb on his lap and snuggle against him.

“They are nice babies,” he assured their youngest and Cas shrugged, concern seemingly forgotten as he stared at his father’s stomach with fascination.

“Babies done soon?” he asked and Derek laughed again, a little wistfully this time.

“Not yet Cas, babies need to grow a little while longer,” he said, turning and smiling at Noah, who had also wandered into the room, followed by Leonie.

“Daddy, Papa?” Noah asked shyly and when both fathers turned towards him Leonie gently nudged his shoulder, shaking her head softly when Noah blushed and addressing her fathers instead.

“We were thinking … can we help you pick the babies’ names? I know Aunt Lydia says that there is nothing more hysterical than watching you argue baby-names, but we thought ...”

“That is a _great_ idea!” Stiles said enthusiastically, ignoring Derek’s amused look when he pointedly looked at their five-year-old son.

“Come on Derek, it’ll be great! We can make this a fun event for the whole family!” he continued, grinning when Derek held up his hands as if to say he wasn’t about to hear a complaint from him.

Stiles’ mind was already running and five minutes later two shoe boxes were sitting on their couch table, a pink one marked “A” and a white one marked “B”.

“I present to you – the Baby-Name-Boxes!” Stiles said proudly, smile widening when he took in the confused looks on his family’s faces.

“The Baby-Name-Boxes?” Derek repeated and Stiles nodded eagerly.

“Yes! We all know this is going to take us forever, especially with two of them, so this is what’s going to happen! Everyone can write names that they like on pieces of paper and drop them in one of the boxes. The pink box is for your little sister, obviously, so we can only put names for a little girl in that one, and in the other box we can put boy names and girl names until Baby B decides to cooperate with us so we can find out if we need another pink box or a blue box. At the end of each month we’ll sort through the suggestions and vote on them. The ones we all like we will write on a chalk board for further notice and the rest will get discarded.”

“We _all_ have to like them?” Derek said, doubt shining through his eyes and Stiles nodded.

“Yes! It has to be unanimous otherwise it won’t be fair. We’ll do a trial run this week and on Sunday Grandpa can come over and make sure nobody is cheating!”

“But Daddy! I can’t write!”

Stiles’ smile faltered only briefly when he reached out to ruffle Cas’ hair.

“No problem Cas! You can tell Leonie and Noah which names you want and they can write them down for you!”

Cas seemed to ponder his siblings’ trustworthiness for a second before he nodded, snuggling back against Derek with a satisfied smile.

That night, Derek’s expression was anything but satisfied as he stared down Stiles with a magnificent display of eyebrows.

“You realize this might come back to bite us in the butt, right?” he said, sighing exasperatedly when Stiles shrugged off his concern.

“Leo-Pie and Noah are old enough to come up with decent name suggestions and I’m sure we can outvote whatever cartoon character Cas likes best that month.”

“You realize our children are going to school with kids named Preacher, Abcdee, and Rattle and thus might believe that one can just name children _anything_ these days, right?” Derek asked carefully and Stiles shrugged again.

“Again, in that case we’ll be the ones vetoing. Trust me Derek, this will be fun.”

“It will be a word starting with ‘f’ alright, only it won’t end in ‘un’ but in ‘ight’,” Derek murmured, grinning when Stiles shut him up with a kiss.

Impending baby-name disaster or not, he was curious to see what their children were going to come up with.

 

==============

 

The proud grandfather obviously agreed with Derek when he stared at the two boxes in slight confusion that Sunday.

“I’m supposed to do what now?” he asked again, blinking uncertainly and Stiles patiently repeated his task, which was essentially to pick a piece of paper out of the box, read out the name, count the votes and then either discard the paper or write it on the chalk boards that Stiles had hung on the living room wall that afternoon.

“And you all put names in here?” John asked once more and Stiles nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes! But we did it without signing our own names, so no one will know who suggested which name and no one can get mocked!” he explained, throwing a little sideways glance at his long-suffering mate.

“And I only write down the names that everyone agrees with?” John repeated one more time and once again Stiles nodded, fidgeting impatiently when his father shook his head and slowly pulled the first piece of paper out of the pink box.

They had all decided to do that box first, since there were only girls names in there, and John carefully unfolded the piece of paper, his eyebrows rising up to his hairline before he glared at his son and said “Woof” in his flattest voice.

Stiles blinked.

“Uhm, Dad? You are supposed to read the name, not try to imitate our dog,” he said and John huffed.

“That’s what I did! Woof! This paper says Woof,” he defended himself and Derek turned towards their children, eyebrows also drawn up.

“Guys … I thought we said we were taking this seriously?” he said slowly and all three children looked offended.

“We are taking this seriously Papa!”

“It wasn’t us who decided on that name!”

“It was Jay-Jay!”

Derek stared at Cas as if their youngest had grown a second head.

“Jay-Jay?” he asked and Cas nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes Papa! Jay-Jay can’t write, just like me, because he doesn’t have opp.. oppo … oppo-thumbs and so we had to help him!”

“We had to ask him Papa, it wouldn’t have been fair otherwise; he’s their big brother, too!” Noah added, looking at their dog fondly, who was snoring on the carpet, his long legs twitching as if he was chasing a squirrel in his dream.

“When we asked him he said “Woof!” so that’s what we wrote!” Cas explained and Leonie grinned.

“I might have messed up on the spelling, he wasn’t speaking clearly, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he said,” she said, grinning devilishly at her fathers.

“I’m sorry Jay-Jay, but as their grandfather I am hereby vetoing this _name_ for all eternity,” the former Sheriff interrupted, discarding the paper in the trashcan and shaking his head, though there was a hint of a smile forming on his lips.

Twenty minutes and about as many name-suggestions later his smile had turned into an exasperated expression, mirrored by Derek, who was rubbing his temples with a soft groan while he listened to Leonie and Stiles fighting over the name Pippilotta, a name-inspiration that Leonie had drawn from the _Pippi Longstocking_ books Derek had read to her when she had been younger.

Leonie had apparently decided that, since Derek had been reading that particular book to her before he had gone into labor with Cas, the name had a special significance for their family and needed to be recognized.

Stiles obviously didn’t share her opinion.

“No child of mine will be named Pippilotta!”

“But Dad! Pippilotta is a really strong girl and Cas says Baby A is a werewolf so she needs a strong name!”

“I don’t care if … no Noah, don’t worry, we don’t _know_ what Baby A is, no matter what your brother thinks … no, I promise … _Leonie!_ We are not naming her Pippilotta.”

“Why?!”

“… because!”

“But … but that’s _anarchy_!”

“No Leonie, the word you are looking for is tyranny. And that’s not what it is either; this is a democracy. The majority wins and in this case the majority says no!”

“But Daddy, I said yes?”

“No Cas, you said no!”

“Did not!”

“She will not be named Pippilotta and that’s final. Either we all agree or the name doesn’t go on the board, it’s _that_ simple!”

“Stiles … we are _never_ going to find a name with this system.”

“Yes we will Derek, we …”

“… have no name on the board yet, is that what you were saying?”

Derek gave his mate a stern look as Stiles let out a huge sigh, looking between his annoyed father, his exasperated mate, and the empty board.

“She will not be named Pippilotta,” he repeated, rubbing his eyes when his father rustled the still half-full box.

“I made that kid and if I say she won’t be a Pippilotta, then that’s final!”

Derek scoffed.

“ _I’m_ making that kid right now so if we are going by that logic none of you can have any say!” he shot back, allowing himself just the slightest of grins when Stiles gulped.

“Should we maybe look at Baby B’s box for a change? Maybe there is a boy name in here that you guys can all agree on,” John suggested, his tone almost pleading and for the next ten minutes Derek found himself vetoing the same girl names he had vetoed in Box A – it was a slight flaw in Stiles’ all-overall deeply flawed box-system – as well as all of the boy names (“Jacob John … _really_ Stiles? _Really_?” – “Who says _I_ put that name in there?!” – “…”).

By the time John had left, muttering about crazy people under his breath, the chalk-boards were still empty, Leonie was scowling furiously because of the failure of her Pippilotta-Campaign, Noah’s lips were trembling because his little brother had once again insisted their baby-sister was a werewolf, and Cas had stormed off with a huff, deeply insulted that Jay-Jay was not going to get a vote.

“Fun for the whole family?” Derek asked quietly after the door to Leonie’s room had slammed shut behind their two oldest children, who were undoubtedly plotting against their evil fathers right now, and Stiles groaned.

“How was I supposed to know all their suggestions would be terrible?” he protested and Derek sighed.

“Let me think … maybe because one of them is five and thinks our dog should get a vote?”

“Leo-Pie came up with Noah’s name when she was what, three and a half? He’s almost two years older, how was I supposed to know he wanted to name the babies Poopoo and Peepee?”

Derek chuckled weakly.

“You do realize that they will hate us forever when we inevitably make the decision ourselves and they realize they did not have any input at all, right?”

“It was just a trial run Derek! I’m sure we’ll have better luck next time, I can feel it!”

Derek, whose current feelings mostly consisted of the discomfort that came with back-pain, grunted in response.

He had chosen Leonie’s name, Leonie had chosen Noah’s name, and although no one ever actually called Cas by his given name Jonathan, he had technically chosen that name all on his own as well – it was about time Stiles got the dominant input in choosing their children’s names and Derek did appreciate his mate’s efforts to make their children feel included.

He just – didn’t share his mate’s optimism that it would actually work.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: Leonie does something she wasn't supposed to, Derek is furious, and Stiles gets a little frustrated.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter some of you may feel that Derek behaves a little out of character, but I hope I made it clear why he kinda loses it a little here. 
> 
> Also a quick warning: there is mention of some attempts at underage drinking in this chapter. 
> 
> I also wanted to address a concern from a comment on the last chapter, about the kids all preferring Derek and not loving Stiles (very much). 
> 
> I am using the "Silly Daddy" trope with Stiles quite a bit (which is done in part because of the canon Stiles character's personality and partly because it allows me to write fluffy humor because), but just because his parenting blunders are the ones that I normally focus on, that doesn't mean that Derek doesn't mess up (case in point) or that they prefer Derek.
> 
> I do, however, write a lot of this from Derek's point of view and I guess that could have contributed to some of you getting the impression that the kids prefer him. Also, in this verse Stiles has a very time-consuming, demanding job while Derek is an editor who works from home, meaning that he sees the kids a lot more. They have more points of reference with their Papa, but they love them both equally, I promise you!
> 
> Once this one is finished I'll probably sit down and start outlining the "How they had their kids - Stiles' POV" fic I have been teasing since "Stiles and Derek Make a Baby". It will be a 5-Chapter story that will have extra-scenes and additional Stiles' POV info for "Stiles and Derek Make a Baby", "Stiles and Derek Have a Baby", "Something Borrowed, Something Blue ... And Two Pink Lines", "The Rule of Three", and "Full House" and there will be more Stiles one-on-one time with the kids as well, so don't you guys worry - this verse's Silly Daddy is very much loved by his entire family ;-).

_May 30 th (23 Weeks)_

“For the last time, I said _no_!”

There were many pleasant things Derek could imagine himself doing on a late Friday afternoon.

A) Reading a good book; b) enjoying the warm almost-summer sun on his skin; c) take a relaxing bath to soothe his throbbing back; d) relax on the couch with a tin of nutella-marzipan cookies; e) cuddle up against Stiles; f) have mind-blowing orgasms with Stiles.

Option e and f were out of the question because of his mate’s current absence, due to a weekend-business trip.

Option a-d were currently being sabotaged by his furious daughter who, Derek was quite certain, was about to stomp her feet and start screaming like a toddler.

After almost two months of nausea-freedom Derek was confident that the HG situation was under control, however, his entire pack was still occasionally treating him as if he was made of thin glass and when Stiles had announced his business-trip, his father and Melissa had jumped at the chance to take the kids up to the lake for an entire weekend, giving them some grandchildren-time and allowing Derek to relax for almost three blessed days.

They had done the same trip with Scott’s sons the month before – minus Ellie, who was still nursing – and Derek appreciated their determination to divide their time as fairly as possible between their as-of-now seven grandchildren.

Leonie, however, was not cooperating.

The trip had been planned for over a week so Derek’s initial reaction to her declaration that she would stay home so she could go to a party hosted by a seventh-grader from the local Junior High, had not been … accommodating.

Derek was painfully aware of Melissa and John’s presence as they were waiting outside, the boys already packed into the car and patiently expecting Leonie to finally bring her bags but Leonie wasn’t budging, her eyes shimmering with furious tears as she stared at Derek.

“Papa, I want to go! _Everyone_ is going, I have to …”

“I am quite sure that not _everyone_ is going, there is no way that kid’s house is big enough to host the entire Junior High School. I said no Leonie and this is final. You made a commitment with your grandparents and you are not going to back out on them now!”

“But they said it was fine! They don’t mind if I stay here!”

“Of course they mind!” Derek exploded, barely able to keep himself from shifting as he roared at his oldest child.

“There will be a hundred thousand parties when you get to High School and even more parties in College, I promise you, but this is time with your grandparents and that is much more important!” he barked, no longer able to keep his eyes from bleeding red when Leonie flashed her own amber eyes at him.

They had been arguing about this for over half an hour now and Derek’s patience had begun to wear thin halfway into the argument, but this act of defiance was simply too much.

“Alright Leonie Talia Claudia, that’s _it_! You are _not_ going out to the lake but you are not going to that party either! You are staying here, in your room, and you are grounded until further notice! And that’s final!”

He was still seething when he stormed outside to tell Melissa and John they could head towards the lake sans his daughter, trying to ignore Cas and Noah’s confusion and his parents-in-law’s disappointment when he quickly explained the situation to them.

He knew Leonie was listening in, could hear her growling when he talked about her need to learn priorities but when he marched back into the house she was nowhere to be seen, though he could hear her rapid heartbeat, angry huffing, and jerky pacing coming from her room.

Which was just as well, since Derek really didn’t think he could continue the argument for now, feeling worn and still too angry.

He hated yelling at the children and both he and Stiles usually tried to talk to them in calm, stern voices whenever they were acting up, however, his hormones had been getting the best of him for weeks, especially when it came to their teenage daughter and her attitude.

He had even barked at Cas and Noah the other day, getting tired of a silly fight over some Lego and he had hardly been able to sleep that night, still feeling guilty over Cas’ startled crying outburst and the look of hurt in Noah’s eyes.

When Stiles called half an hour later, clearly not informed about the changed situation, Derek told him that he was too tired to talk, assuring his immediately worried mate that he was fine and just needed to catch up on a little sleep with their kids gone.

After his mate had hung up Derek debated calling Leonie downstairs for dinner, then remembered that she was grounded.

She had had breakfast, lunch, and a snack that day and so he didn’t feel it would hurt her too much to go to bed without dinner that night, promising himself to be more reasonable the next morning.

He had been looking forward to a peaceful and quiet weekend and he didn’t intend to spend the majority of it in a state of stressed tension because of a fight with his child.

Leonie did not make a sound all afternoon and early evening and when Derek trotted up the stairs to lie down at 9 he had to force himself to walk past her door.

Neither he nor Stiles could stay mad at their children for too long and having to go to bed with the situation unresolved was not something he was happy about, however, he had not lied to Stiles about his exhaustion and although he tried to read a little he found himself falling asleep almost immediately.

Two hours later, the book, which he had rested on his belly before sleep overtook him, fell to the ground with a loud bang and Derek jolted awake, rubbing his eyes with a sigh once his heartbeat had normalized again.

It was more routine than anything when he searched for Leonie’s heartbeat, used to making sure his family was alright every morning before he got out of bed, and because he was still sleepy it took him about thirty seconds to realize that he was alone in the house when he really shouldn’t be.

Derek’s own rebellious teenage years had ended rather abruptly when he had lost his family right in the middle, but he did remember a few heated arguments with his parents and although Talia had not played the Alpha card on him very often, there had been a few occasions when she had ended an argument with a flash of red eyes and a very clear command.

In those cases it had never even occurred to Derek to defy her, having been raised with the knowledge that one respected the Alpha, and because he had grounded Leonie while he had still been in Alpha mode it did not even occur to him that she could have defied him at first, images of an abducted, hurt, or possibly killed daughter filling his head instead.

He was out of the bed and inside her room in record speed, his panic increasing when she was not there.

The babies were kicking almost angrily, reminding him that he could not afford a panic attack right now and he forced himself to calm down enough so he could sniff the room, trying to locate the scent of whoever had broken into his house and taken his child.

There was no scent except the lingering anger of his daughter, laced with a hint of the smell Stiles usually emitted when he was being stubborn and Derek willed himself to calm down long enough so he could grab his phone.

Stiles picked up on the second ring, sounding concerned and Derek wasted no time in explaining the situation and the fact that their daughter was gone.

Stiles was silent for a moment and when he spoke next he sounded equally resigned and also a bit … amused?

“Derek, I need you to calm down. She wasn’t kidnapped and she’s not hurt – she just went to the party.”

Derek blinked.

“No she didn’t,” he insisted; aware that he was the one being stubborn now, and Stiles sighed.

“Of course she did. Do you really think you telling her no would have been enough to keep her from a party on which, in her opinion, the future of her entire social life hinges on right now?”

“I gave her an order as her Alpha, she couldn’t have gone! Something happened, I’m telling you …” Derek began again but Stiles interrupted him, tone firm but gentle.

“I’m not saying I’m condoning this or that I’m not angry she did this, but trust me, she’s my kid and I spent half of my teenage years going against my father’s orders behind his back and lying my butt off to keep him from discovering it. I don’t like that she’s starting that kind of behavior so early but I promise you, she’s fine.”

Derek took another deep sniff, noting that he neither smelled panic, nor fear and he deflated, sitting down on her bed hard as he rubbed his eyes.

“And what now? Do I go get her? Do I wait for her to come back? I gave her an _order_ Stiles, she shouldn’t have been able to defy me like this!”

Stiles sighed again.

“Do you need me to come back? I can make that drive in three hours I think, two if I speed all the way through?”

Derek shook his head, sighing himself.

“No. Stay where you are. I think I’ll go get her.”

“And you think that is wise? It’s too warm for a coat now and you can’t hide the kiddos anymore, even if you wanted to,” Stiles said hesitantly and Derek growled.

“Oh trust me, unless defying her Alpha’s orders comes with a temporarily loss of werewolf powers she’ll _hear_ me. She was not supposed to go to that party and I’ll be damned if I let her enjoy it to the end!”

“Do you _really_ not want me to come back?” Stiles said again and Derek huffed.

“I can handle this. I’ll call you as soon as I got her.”

Derek knew where the boy’s house was, had driven Leonie there for play-dates a couple of times when they had still been in elementary school and as he pulled up in front of the house ten minutes later he took a deep breath, listening in to the sounds coming from the home.

He had been wondering since that afternoon what kind of parents allowed their 13-year old to throw a party at 10 in the evening but it quickly became clear that the parents weren’t even there.

He strained his ears, trying to locate Leonie and growing more and more anxious when he realized that many of the party-goers seemed to be much older than his not even 12-year old.

When he finally located her it sounded as if she and some of her friends were huddled up in the basement, telling each other ghost stories and giggling and for a short moment his determination to unleash the mother of a punishment on his oldest faltered.

He was about to call Stiles again when he heard Leonie’s best friend giggle, “Ugh, that is gross” and his daughter responded, “I know, beer is so yucky! Let’s try that clear stuff instead!”

It was all he could do to keep himself from snarling when Derek raised his voice just loud enough so that his daughter would hear it, his voice shaking with fury when he said, “Leonie Talia Claudia Hale, you have one minute to come out to the car. 60, 59, 58 …”

The door to the passenger seat was yanked open when he got to 11 and when he faced his daughter Leonie shrank back, flashing her eyes immediately and submitting to the fury she could clearly see in her father’s glowing red eyes.

Derek didn’t say anything as he turned the car and started driving back to their house, the red never leaving his eyes as he gripped the steering wheel so tightly he could actually feel the dents he was making.

Leonie didn’t utter a sound for the entire duration of the drive, her eyes wide open and shoulders tense as she stared ahead and when Derek parked the car she turned towards him, lips quivering as she clearly waited for another order.

“To your room! Now!” Derek growled and she hopped out of the car, almost scrambling over her own feet in her haste to reach the door and once Derek had unlocked it she bolted up the stairs, leaving behind her a wave of guilt, shame, and slight fear.

It was the last emotion that made Derek even angrier – his daughter was not allowed to fear him, should never have driven him to a point where he got so mad that he scared her and his fingers were shaking when he typed, “Got her home. She’s fine. Sleep now, call you in the morning,” to Stiles.

By the time he collapsed onto his and Stiles’ bed his entire body was tense all over, especially in the back and stomach region and he tried to breathe calmly, rubbing his hand across his belly in soothing motions.

He was quite sure he had never been this angry with any of his children before and he hated it, however, he wasn’t ready to simply forgive and forget.

 

=================

 

Instead of the relaxing weekend he had planned the next two days were anything but pleasant for Derek.

He would have been furious with his daughter for disobeying him one way or the other, but the fact that alcohol had been involved had pushed his anger to a whole new level.

Derek couldn’t remember being this angry in a long time and with the way his stomach had been rolling ever since he had picked her up at the party he was not surprised when he had to scramble for the bathroom in the early morning.

If he never had to vomit another day in his life it would be too much and having to kneel in front of the toilet while being six months pregnant with twins was definitely not a comfortable position to be in.

Leonie was awake as well, he could tell by the rapid thumping of her heartbeat and the anxiety coming from her room but to her credit his child stayed put this time, actually obeying his order.

As he shuffled downstairs to let out their dog Derek wanted nothing more than to take an emergency wolfsbane dosage and promptly collapse onto the bed – or couch, he was too tired to be picky – but the dog needed to be fed and so did his child.

By the time he had put together something that vaguely resembled a healthy breakfast the nausea was approaching pre-peak levels and he had to bend over the sink, coughing and dry-heaving.

When he was able to straighten back up Leonie was hovering in the kitchen-door, looking as if she hadn’t slept at all and lips wobbling.

“Eat!” he snapped, indicating towards the table as he walked past her and began to make his way up the stairs, focused only on getting to the medication on his nightstand before the third bout of vomiting of the day.

Because it was the highest dosage Aiden was comfortable with having him take the effects kicked in almost immediately, however, so did the sleepiness, and Derek barely noticed it when Jay-Jay jumped up on Stiles’ side of the bed and pushed his soft nose into his belly, nuzzling him and trying to comfort him.

Derek fell asleep mid-attempt to pat Jay-Jay’s head and when he woke up it was almost evening.

The medication had once again worked wonders and Derek hefted himself up with a sigh, aware that he really needed to eat and drink something now.

Leonie was back in her room and Derek thought about calling her down for dinner before shaking his head.

He was still too angry and there was nothing he could think of saying to her right now without resorting to screaming.

Sunday was spent in uncomfortable silence with Derek resting in the living room and Leonie holed up in her room and he wanted to cry with relief when Stiles lugged his back into the house in the late afternoon, almost five hours earlier than he had been scheduled to come back.

“Where is the little delinquent?” Stiles asked softly and Derek’s relieved smile turned into a growling grimace at his mate’s attempt at humor.

“Upstairs!” he snapped, staring stubbornly at Stiles when his mate sighed.

“Are you still very mad?” he asked, shaking his head and muttering, “Of course you are” when Derek couldn’t stop himself from flashing his Alpha eyes.

“Want me to talk to her?” he asked and Derek shrugged.

Because he needed some fresh air and didn’t want to hear what Leonie had to say in her defense he took Jay-Jay for a walk and when he got back Stiles was sitting on the steps of the front-porch.

He had changed into his casual clothes and when Derek reached him he stood up, wrapping his arms around his mate and nuzzling his neck.

“She’s really, _really_ sorry Papa-Wolf,” Stiles said carefully, stroking Derek’s back when the werewolf tensed in his arms.

“She knows she shouldn’t have gone against your wishes and she understands that just because alcohol does not affect her she is not allowed to drink it. She’s also really scared that she made the HG come back so how about you go up to our daughter’s room and talk it out with her and then you guys can make up and we can all prepare dinner before the boys get home? And we can talk about why you didn’t tell me that it got so bad again that you had to resort to Aiden’s emergency mixture?”

Derek shrugged.

“I’m fine now, it was just on Saturday. I didn’t want to worry you.”

Stiles sighed.

“I _always_ worry Derek, that’s kind of my thing. Go talk to our kid, ok? She needs you to stop being mad at her and to be honest, I think you need that, too.”

Stiles was right – Derek was certain that a lot of the tension in his body came from the unresolved fight with his oldest and when he went up the stairs he promised himself to keep an open mind, taking a deep breath before he knocked on the door.

“Come in Papa,” Leonie said softly and when he opened the door his daughter was sitting on her bed, knees drawn up to her chest as she stared at him uncertainly.

“Daddy says you have something to say to me Leonie?” Derek began, pulling her desk-chair towards him and sitting down.

Leonie swallowed, then nodded.

“I’m sorry Papa. I’m really, really sorry I didn’t listen to you. I just wanted to go to that party so badly … but I know I should have listened.”

Derek sighed.

“Yes, you should have listened. I’m not only your father, I’m also your Alpha and you need to respect me when I tell you not to do something. I’m not doing it to be mean to you, I’m doing it to protect you. And I’m very disappointed in your friend, I did not think he would be the kind of kid to have a party with alcohol at the age of what, 13? Just because we aren’t affected by alcohol that doesn’t mean your friends won’t be, Leonie. Do you know how dangerous that could have been? If one of your friends had tried to match you, tried to out-drink you? You can die because of too much alcohol, you can _never_ forget that!” he said firmly and Leonie sighed.

“It wasn’t _his_ alcohol Papa, I swear. His brother gave one bottle to him so he wouldn’t rat him out to their parents and …”

Derek held up his hand, staring at her intently.

“Hold on. What does his brother have to do with it? I thought his brother was already in College and didn’t live there anymore?”

Leonie shrugged.

“College is out for the summer, too. The party was actually thrown by his brother, but he said we could come, too, so he could have his own party and … Papa? What’s wrong?”

His blood was rushing in his ears and his heart was pounding and for a moment Derek couldn’t even answer her, despite Leonie’s increasing anxiety as she stared at him.

“You went to a party thrown by a _College_ kid?” he finally barked out and Leonie recoiled at his tone, shaking her head frantically.

“What? No! Papa, I went to my friend’s party, I swear, we didn’t even go up to the older kids we …”

“You were _not_ allowed to go there! You are _never_ allowed to go to a party like that!” Derek snapped, breath coming out in harsh gasps and voice getting even louder and Leonie flashed her eyes, this time in frustration.

“Papa, I didn’t go to _his_ party, I went to my friend’s party!”

“I don’t _care_! Do you know what could have happened at a party like that? You should have left the moment you realized these older guys were there! Did you know that before?” Derek got out and when Leonie nodded miserably he stood up, red once again bleeding into his eyes when he stared down at his child.

“You are grounded for the rest of the month! You will not defy me like this again! Do you understand me?” Derek roared.

There was a part of him that was aware that he was completely losing it, a part that was screaming at him to stop but he ignored it as he stormed out of Leonie’s room, slamming the door behind him and walking past his shocked mate.

“Where are you going? What was _that_?” Stiles yelled after him and Derek growled, calling “Out!” up the stairs as he threw the backdoor open with much more force than necessary and stomped down the trail towards the woods.

He walked around for over an hour, trying and failing to clear his head, his mind continuing to conjure up scenarios of what could have happened at the party and when he got back home Stiles was pacing on the back-porch, throwing up his hands in exasperation when he saw him.

“I thought we agreed you’d make up with her! That was not making peace!” he threw at Derek and Derek narrowed his eyes.

“Do _not_ argue with me on this Stiles,” he said coldly, pushing past him and up the stairs.

He could feel his stomach clenching up again and took another pill just in case, sleeping through the return of their sons, Stiles’ attempts to rouse him, and the heated conversation between his mate and daughter.

He could tell Stiles was mad at him in the morning, in fact, his sons seemed to be mad at him as well when he completely ignored their big sister at the breakfast table, bad mood seeping out of him in waves but unable to stop it.

It was bound to be a long month.

 

==================

 

One week later Stiles had enough.

“Derek?” he asked softly after they had retired to bed, looking hesitant as if he was expecting Derek to start growling at him any minute.

“Yes Stiles?” Derek snapped back, expression turning annoyed and Stiles threw his hands up in frustration.

“It’s not like I want to question your parenting methods, I really don’t, but don’t you think that this silence has gone on long enough?”

“No.”

Derek’s tone could have frozen lava and Stiles made an exasperated sound.

“Well, I do and I want it to stop.”

“No.”

“Come on Derek, this is ridiculous! Yes, she lied to us, yes, she snuck out behind our backs and yes, that’s not the kind of behavior we should encourage but for heaven’s sake Derek, I lied to my Dad through half of my teenage years and when I snuck out I was not going to parties, I was usually just about to get myself killed. This is _normal_ and every kid does it and honestly, as long as it’s just parties I really don’t think one tiny little teenage rebellion warrants such a punishment.”

He gave Derek a pleading gaze, though his mouth was still set in a firm line.

“Can you _please_ start talking to her again?”

“No.”

Stiles was trying not to get angry, but Derek’s one-word answers were beginning to really annoy him.

“She’s not even _twelve_ yet! You can’t give her the silent treatment for a frakin’ week! One day, _fine_ , still debatable, but mostly fine, but one week is definitely too long and I need you to start talking to our daughter again because she is suffering here! She might be sulking around during the day and avoiding you but you know as well as I do that she’s not sleeping well and I know you’ve seen how red her eyes were this morning. I’m all for teaching her a lesson, I don’t want this to continue all the way through her teenage years, but when I say lesson I don’t mean cruel and unusual punishment!”

He glared at Derek, wringing his hands nervously.

“Also, in case you didn’t notice it, it’s not just our daughter you are punishing! Our sons are freaking out, too. You know as well as I do that Noah gets night-terrors when there’s tension in the house and Cas is so freaked-out about all the anger he keeps smelling that he wet the bed three times this week! Three times Derek, and this is the kid we potty-trained in two days!”

Derek’s own glare softened momentarily, before his gaze hardened again.

“Why are you trying to go behind my back here? You are supposed to support me in this!” he exclaimed and Stiles snorted.

“Do you remember when you went to that retreat and I was alone with Leonie and Noah and that whole weekend turned into a complete disaster? I tried to ignore our child as a punishment, too, and my father _still_ hasn’t forgiven me for that yet even though she doesn’t even remember! Why are you so intent on making the same mistake now? Talk to me Derek, I don’t understand it!”

Derek wanted to curse himself when his eyes started welling up with tears.

“Then don’t understand it! I don’t care!” he huffed, turning away from Stiles and unto his side, ignoring the double assault of kicks against his organs that felt like their babies were angry at him, too.

Stiles made a groaning, exasperated noise and a minute later a hesitant hand was placed on Derek’s back.

“Derek … what is this really about? It can’t be about some stupid party hosted by a bunch of pimply 13-year olds, right?”

Derek was still refusing to turn towards him but when his shoulders started to shake Stiles felt like his insides were being twisted.

“Talk to me Derek, please,” he whispered and one second later a hormonal, upset werewolf was clinging to him, frame shaking with suppressed sobs as he pressed his face against his neck.

“Derek … please, you’re scaring me,” he repeated and Derek finally took a deep breath, his eyes shining with the pain of a huge loss when he looked at his mate.

“Did I ever tell you how I met Kate?” he asked and Stiles shook his head.

“I met her at a party … a party hosted by some Senior’s older brother who was home from College. I wasn’t supposed to go to in the first place. I was 16 and felt like an adult who didn’t have to listen to his parents anymore, so I snuck out one night and went to the party anyways. Kate was a friend of that older brother. Of course I knew who she was and I tried to avoid her but she was so … so …”

“Don’t. You don’t have to, I know.” Stiles said gently, stroking his mate’s hair when he began to shake again.

Derek rubbed his eyes furiously.

“I didn’t listen to my parents and my act of what I thought was some little teenage rebellion set a chain of events in motion that haunt me to this day! I can’t have her go through something like this, I just can’t Stiles!”

Stiles sighed deeply, though his comforting movements never stopped.

“Derek – I can understand that the circumstances of the party were maybe a little too familiar for comfort but you know as well as I do that there are no hunters other than Chris and Allison in Beacon Hills currently and neither of them are ever going to harm the children or us. History doesn’t have to repeat itself,” he tried to reason but Derek shook his head.

“I _know_ that! But I just … I keep imagining it and it’s … It’s …”

“You cannot take this out on our daughter! Derek, I love you, I do, but I’m stopping this right now. We never really talked about the circumstances of the fire with any of the children, our daughter has _no_ idea why her Papa went, I’m sorry for putting it bluntly, bat-shit crazy over this and I need you to pull yourself together.”

He held up his hand when Derek looked at him in shock, expression pained.

“No Derek. I’m sorry, I’m not belittling your pain here in any way, I know you’ll struggle with this for as long as you live and I’m here for you, I’m always here for you, but your family would slap you right now if they could see you ignore our child for a week because she did something that accidentally triggered a horrible memory for you. She’s not even twelve yet and she _didn’t know_! Derek please, work with me here, I need you to understand that you need to stop doing this!”

“How?” Derek finally whispered, closing his eyes and feeling utterly defeated.

“She probably hates me right now, I’ve been horrible to her for a week!”

Stiles made another sound of exasperation.

Then he got up from the bed, shaking his head as he went into the hallway and by the time Derek had pushed himself into a sitting position Stiles had returned with their daughter.

Despite the fact that she reached up to his chest now his mate was carrying her and Leonie was clinging to her daddy, her face pushed into the crook of his neck as she sniffled.

“Papa is no longer mad at you baby,” Stiles murmured as he gently sat her down on the bed, mouthing, “I’ll check on the boys,” as he left the room.

Leonie was refusing to look at Derek, still sniffling and staring at her feet and Derek rubbed his eyes.

“I’m sorry Leo-Pie. I’m really sorry,” he finally said and a second later she was clinging to him, bawling and muttering “I’m sorry, too, I’m sorry, too Papa,” over and over.

For a while he just held her close, nuzzling the top of her head and trying to convey how sorry he was through his scent as she nuzzled his cheek in acceptance of the apology and when she was no longer sniffling Derek ruffled her hair, his own eyes suspiciously moist.

“You are not longer grounded Leo-Pie, alright? Just … please listen to me the next time I don’t allow you to go somewhere, alright?”

Leonie sighed shakily.

“Does that mean I can still have my birthday party Papa?” she asked and Derek wanted to hit himself.

He had not even thought about the fact that grounding her for the entire month of June would have meant her missing out on her twelfth birthday party.

He was pretty sure he had just beat out every other nominee for the Horrible Parenting Award of the Year.

“Of course you can Leo-Pie. I love you very much baby-girl and I’m really sorry I was so horrible to you for a week,” he said softly and Leonie nodded earnestly, curling herself into his side and falling asleep soon after.

When Stiles returned to their room his smile was sad but affectionate when he kissed Derek’s temple and then carried their oldest back to her own room.

While he was gone Derek decided to make it up to his daughter by throwing her the best birthday party she could possibly imagine – she had done something wrong but in his inability to be the adult over the past week he had wronged her even more and even if Stiles didn’t bring it up again, Derek knew he would be thinking about this week for a long time to come.

The pregnant werewolf also knew he would have to tell his daughter about the fire, about the decisions he had made – or rather, that had been made for him – that had led up to it, but for now he was just relieved that the crisis was finally over.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus concludes the family drama ... for now ;-). Derek really freaks out during this chapter but that's what I would assume happens if someone who is very hormonal has a wound of his past re-opened, accidentally or not so I apologize for any out of character vibes ;-). 
> 
> Next Up: The heart-to-heart between Derek and Noah requested by my lovely reader Nadiaagracee, as well as a 12 years belated baby-moon and a rather adventurous cravings-run.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After all that drama I figured you guys were due for some family fluff and a little bit of silliness

_June 6 th (24 Weeks)_

Noah loved the tree house. He loved it so much, in fact, that he would have slept in it had his fathers allowed it.

Stiles liked to say that if Noah ever needed therapy in the years to come the happy place he would go to would probably be this tree house, which also made it the first spot anyone searched if Noah got upset and disappeared for a while.

The babies had been particularly restless that afternoon and with all children home during the day for the summer, Derek had joined them in the living room, making himself comfortable on the couch with Cas while Leonie and Noah had turned the living room floor into a puzzle-zone, having ignored Derek’s concern that Jay-Jay might end up eating a couple of the pieces.

He had read to Cas for a while until his youngest had gotten bored with the story of _Emil of Lönneberga_ , and had crawled onto Derek’s thighs instead, pressing his hands against his father’s belly and following the babies’ movements.

He called it ‘playing with the puppies’ – Derek had just about given up trying to explain to them that wolves had cubs, not puppies – and after a particularly strong kick from Baby B Cas, who didn’t understand why Noah kept insisting on human babies, had delightedly exclaimed “Wolf!”, beaming up at Derek, who had been torn between smiling at his excited child and commiserating with his unhappy child.

Leonie had bitten her lip and stared at the floor before reaching over and ruffling Noah’s hair and Noah, in a for him rather uncharacteristic display of frustration, had slapped her hand away and marched out of the living room.

“Noah sad?” Cas had asked worriedly, staring after his big brother in confusion and Derek had enlisted Leonie’s help in once again explaining to Cas that his brother wanted at least one of the babies to be human so he wouldn’t be all alone, a difficult task since Cas had kept insisting “But Noah is not alone? Noah has _us_!” his voice growing a little petulant when Derek had seemingly refused to see his logic.

He had finally handed him over to Leonie, who had graciously allowed Cas to help her with the puzzle, despite her prior insistence that her youngest sibling would just mess it all up and/or feed the puzzle pieces to Jay-Jay, whose tail was already wagging in what Leonie claimed was greedy anticipation.

Confident that his oldest would be able to take care of her brother, the puzzle, _and_ their dog, Derek got up in search of his oldest son, figuring that a little Noah-Papa quality time was direly needed.

He did not need to rely on his senses to make his way towards the tree house and when he reached the trunk he stared up miserably, his heart breaking just a bit when he became aware of the quiet little hiccups and sniffs coming from above.

“Noah-Boa?” he called softly and Noah stilled, shuffling a little until his tear-streaked, tiny, mole-dotted face peaked over the edge of the tree house’s porch.

“Yes Papa?” he asked, sounding so miserable that Derek wanted to whine as well.

“Can you come down Noah-Boa?” he asked holding out his arms and Noah bit his lip, more tears rolling down his cheeks when he said, “No … can you come up here, Papa?”

There were a lot of reasons why climbing up inside the tree house was not a good idea at that particular moment in time.

A)   If Stiles found out about it he would probably kill him.

B)   The ladder was really not an actual ladder, because Stiles, in his unwillingness to let Derek help, had resorted to using a jacob’s ladder he had bought at the nautical store, meaning that he and his messed up gravity-center would have to climb up what was essentially a moving piece of rope.

C)   The tree house did not have enough wiggle room for Derek to move around comfortably when he was in his normal shape, let alone now, when he was pretty sure he looked like he was 30 weeks along rather than just 24.

D)   Stiles would really, definitely kill him.

He frowned at the rope ladder, eyeing the steps as if they would break just by looking at them, but then Noah let out another sob and he sighed deeply.

Big, sad Noah-tears were definitely desperate circumstances.

Gravity was not his best friend today, Derek reflected with a grimace as he climbed the ladder, trying not to think about the fact that a grown Alpha werewolf should really not get dizzy by the swaying motions of a stupid piece of rope and squeezing himself through the entrance of the tree house was a spectacle he would rather soon forget.

When he had finally managed to make himself comfortable – or rather, as comfortable as a six feet tall, very pregnant man possibly could in a space designed for children no older than ten – Noah crawled up to him, pressed his face into his chest and started sobbing in earnest and Derek quickly decided that he wasn’t going to go anywhere for quite a while.

“Noah-Boa what’s wrong?” he asked, stroking his son’s hair softly and Noah took a big gulping breath.

“I want one of them to be hu…hu…human,” he wailed, burrowing into Derek’s side like he wanted to disappear and Derek hugged him closer, making shushing sounds and trying to figure out what in the world he was supposed to tell him.

“Sometimes we don’t get what we want” was definitely too harsh and besides, he would probably learn that particular lesson a lot sooner than either of his fathers would have liked.

“One of them is _definitely_ going to be human” would have gone against Derek’s very strict rule of not lying to his children.

“Maybe we can try again if they are both werewolves” was also out of the question, for a whole variety of reasons that Derek didn’t feel like explaining to his sobbing child at all.

“You still got Daddy” was also a weak consolation, since Derek was pretty sure that the similarities Noah was yearning for weren’t the ones between Derek and his werewolf children, but the ones between Cas and Leonie.

“Noah …” he sighed instead and Noah sniffled loudly.

“I don’t want to be human anymore Papa! It’s not _fun_! I’m _always_ sick and Leonie and Cas never are and they can do _everything_ better than I can, even though Cas is smaller! It’s not fair, Papa! If I can’t have a human sibling, I want to be a werewolf, too, I don’t want to be the only one!”

Derek stared at him unhappily, wondering how he could explain to his child that there was no way in hell he would ever take the risk of Noah’s body rejecting the bite and dying, that there was no way he would ever bite him.

Of course Noah had no idea how one could become a werewolf, and Derek was desperately hoping that he would remain oblivious for quite a while longer, not looking forward to that conversation someday soon.

“Noah-Boa … being human is not bad,” he tried instead and Noah rubbed his eyes angrily.

“It _is_ Papa! All I can do is lie around and have colds and tummy aches! I can’t do _anything_!” he muttered and Derek took a deep sniff, barely suppressing a sigh when he understood what had caused Noah to be so upset today.

How his child had managed to catch a stomach bug when he wasn’t even in school and only around werewolf children, including his siblings and Scott’s boys, Derek would never know, but he did know that particular smell and his nose told him that they probably had one, maybe two more hours at best, before Noah’s lunch would probably stage its dramatic reappearance.

He had to give it to him – it really wasn’t fair.

His back was going to hate him tomorrow, Derek was pretty sure, but that didn’t stop him from rolling on his side, propping up one elbow to rest his head on his hand while he began to rub soothing circles into Noah’s aching tummy, leaching the pain as best as he could in his advanced stage of pregnancy.

“Noah-Boa … humans can do a lot of things. Important things,” he said softly and Noah stared at him in disbelief.

“But _what_ Papa?” he whined and Derek bit the inside of his cheek, debating just how much of a reality-check he wanted to give his child.

“You know what wolfsbane is, right Noah?” he asked and Noah frowned.

“It’s … it’s that flower that Daddy says we can’t have in the house because it can make werewolves sick, right?” he asked and Derek nodded, holding his gaze steadily.

“Sometimes there are people who don’t like werewolves very much Noah, and maybe these people want to play mean little pranks on werewolves to show them that they don’t like them. They like to use wolfsbane or mountain ash for these little pranks and that’s really unfair because then the werewolf gets sick and can’t stop the prank, because he can’t touch it. But sometimes, the werewolf is really lucky and has a human brother who can help him take the wolfsbane or the mountain ash away,” he explained, mentally apologizing to every werewolf who had ever been killed by a hunter for his use of the term ‘mean little pranks’.

Noah scrunched up his face as he thought.

“So … if someone ever played a wolfsbane prank on Leonie and Cas _I_ could protect _them_? Instead of them always saying they have to protect _me_ because I’m the human?”

Derek smiled encouragingly; glad that his kid was possibly the smartest little boy he had ever met.

“That’s exactly right Noah. It’s not just that, there are many more reasons why a pack of werewolves needs at least one brave human in their pack,” he continued, exhaling in relief when a soft smile lit up Noah’s face.

“Really Papa?” he asked, sounding hopeful, and Derek smiled.

“You know how I have to change during the full moon? Sometimes werewolves have a little trouble during the full moon because they don’t really know how to control it yet and then maybe they want to do something stupid. When your Uncle Scott was a young werewolf he sometimes wanted to do something stupid during the full moon but he never did – can you guess why?”

Noah was staring at him with wide eyes now and Derek suddenly hoped he would not tell Mikey, Alex, and Thomas about the stupid things their daddy wanted to do when he was younger.

“Why Papa?” Noah whispered and Derek grinned.

“Because he had Daddy as his best friend. Daddy always made sure that Uncle Scott didn’t do anything stupid during the full moon and he could only do that because he was not a werewolf and didn’t get a little stupid during those nights. He could have never done it without Daddy,” he explained, figuring that failure to mention Allison and the whole anchor-business was probably ok when it came to making his child feel better.

Noah was beaming now.

“So I can be useful for my family, too?” he said excitedly and Derek took his little hand, squeezing it tightly.

“Noah-Boa, we would all be really useless if we didn’t have you in our family,” he said and Noah raised one eyebrow in perfect imitation of his father.

“But Papa, you wouldn’t even know me if I wasn’t in our family?” he corrected and Derek shrugged.

“That would make it even worse – we would sit around feeling sad all the time without even knowing _why_ ,” he argued, smiling when Noah threw his arms around his neck and squeezed him tightly.

“I love you Papa,” he declared, hesitating for a second before he patted Derek’s stomach.

“And I love the puppies, too! I still want at least one to be human but don’t worry Papa, I’ll also love them if they are both werewolves. I’ll make sure that no one plays wolfsbane pranks of them, I promise!”

“And the cubs love you, too, and so do I,” Derek promised, rolling his eyes playfully when Noah shook his head, insisting that they were _puppies_.

Because he had finally found a comfortable resting position – and because he could hear Leonie and Cas trying to figure out the puzzle in relative peace and quiet – Derek gave in to the impulse to take a little nap, with Noah curled into his side.

He was not surprised when his oldest son started to miserably complain about his hurting tummy after half an hour and because the tree house _was_ Noah’s comfort place Derek simply decided to stay up there with him for a while, leaching some more of his pain and lulling him to sleep with the same tummy-massaging technique he had used on him ever since he had been a baby.

Noah was sleeping soundly when Stiles poked his head into the door-entrance an hour later, wearing his “We _really_ need to talk!” face and the most judgmental eyebrows he could muster.

Shrugging, Derek pointed at their son, whispering “Bug-Alarm,” under his breath and Stiles grimaced in sympathy, his head disappearing as quickly as it had come.

Derek could not blame him – after all Stiles had the tendency to catch whatever Noah was coming down with almost half of the time.

Five minutes later, a couple of pillows and blankets appeared in the entrance and though Stiles’ expression still promised a stern lecture on the dangers of pregnant werewolves falling to their death by rope-ladder, he seemed to have come to the same realization Derek had – that sometimes, maybe, a night spent in a tree-house was quite beneficial for a stomach-bug healing process.

 

==================

 

When Noah woke up the next morning he was completely healthy, a fact that Derek, who had walked into the garden to rouse his mate and child with a mug of cocoa and coffee respectively, attributed to his improved attitude.

Stiles had more or less forced his pregnant werewolf mate to spend the night at the house while he watched over Noah, arguing that heavily pregnant werewolves belonged in comfortable beds with easy access to a bathroom rather than a tiny tree house and Derek had readily agreed, dismounting the tree under Stiles’ slightly panicked stare.

“Are you guys awake yet?” he called out and after a second both his husband and son poked their heads out over the edge, the physical resemblance between them striking Derek once again as he noted their almost identical bed-head.

Noah was grinning, calling out, “It was _awesome_ Papa!” before he scrambled over Stiles to get to the ladder, causing his father to let out a loud oof.

“My kidney says thank you son!” Stiles grumbled, sleepy eyes blinking down at Derek as he tried to sit up, groaning with a grimace.

“Coffee?” Derek grinned, holding the mug up higher and Stiles groaned even louder.

“Ibuprofen!” he declared dramatically, wincing as he finally pushed himself into a sitting position.

Because he was pretty sure that his mate was just fishing for sympathy Derek ignored him, holding out the cocoa to Noah, who accepted it happily.

“It was so awesome Papa, I woke up in the middle of the night and Daddy was talking in his sleep! At first I was a little scared because he sounded like he had a tummy ache, too, but then he said _Take me Derek_ and I knew he just had a nice dream about you guys going on vacation. That’s you Papa, right? You’re Derek, right? Are you taking Daddy on vacation? Where are you going? Can we come, too?”

Derek stared at his oldest son, torn between wanting to cry, laugh, or throttle Stiles, but since his mate’s head had promptly disappeared from the edge during Noah’s story and he was making no attempts to climb down, the throttling would have to happen later.

Noah looked up from his cocoa cup with a frown when Derek started laughing, scrunching up his face as he tried to figure out the joke.

“What’s so funny Papa?” he asked and Derek shook his head, throwing Stiles, who had finally begun to climb down the ladder with burning cheeks, a pointed glance.

“Nothing’s funny Noah. Papa was just thinking about how silly Daddy is sometimes,” he explained; smile turning a tad judgmental when Stiles crouched down in front of Noah with a sheepish expression.

“Don’t listen to Papa Noah, Daddy is actually going to take Papa on a vacation! This weekend!” he said quickly and Derek coughed lightly.

“Is that so?” he asked and Stiles nodded.

“Yes! We’re going on a … we’re going on a baby-moon vacation!”

“Vacation? Can we come, too?”

Derek was not surprised to see Cas and Leonie almost hanging out of the window to their daughter’s bedroom, their wide grins falling when Stiles shook his head.

“Sorry buddy – a baby-moon is just for Daddies and Papas!” he explained and Cas pouted for a second before his head disappeared from the window.

He was still a little insulted by the time Derek had finished preparing breakfast and as they sat down at the table – Stiles with a little more wincing than the rest of his family and Cas with a lot more pouting – Leonie raised her eyebrows at her fathers.

“So Papa, I went on the Internet to find out what a baby-moon was and I was wondering – you do know that you should have done this while you were pregnant with _me_ and not the puppies, right?”

“Is she right, _Stiles_?” Derek directed at his mate and Stiles, who seemed to have regained his composure, grinned at their daughter.

“Totally true Leo-Pie, but you see, when Papa was pregnant with you I got a little worried whenever he was too far away from Grandma and Uncle Alan and so we couldn’t go on a baby-moon! But now Papa knows what he’s doing and, more importantly, _I_ know what I’m doing, so this time we can definitely go!”

“ _More importantly_?” Derek mouthed, shaking his head when Stiles had the decency to blush.

“You were so freaked out you didn’t even think about going on a baby-moon twelve years ago, weren’t you?” Leonie said cheekily and Stiles mock-huffed, clutching his heart.

“Whoever told you I ever freaked out was lying! You have no faith in me daughter,” he cried dramatically and Cas giggled, his disappointment over not going on the baby-moon seemingly forgotten.

“You _were_ Daddy! Leo-Pie’s right!” he exclaimed with glee and Stiles shook his head gravely.

“Some day soon you will regret teaching your little brother to listen to heartbeats. Just you wait Leo-Pie,” he told her with a smile and Leonie shrugged.

“There wasn’t much I could teach him, he had it figured out like two years ago. Besides, I don’t have any secrets,” she announced, casually grabbing for the marmalade and almost dropping it with a startled expression when Cas made a delighted sound.

“You just lied! You _do_ have a secret! What’s the secret? Tell me, pleeeeeeeeease?” he begged and Noah looked up from his cereal with interest, expression completely innocent when he asked, “Is it a boy-secret?” and Leonie squeaked.

“What? _No_!” she exclaimed and Cas’ eyes grew wider.

“Are you playing with _other_ boys? You can’t play with other boys; you can only play with Noah and me! Well … and Mikey, Alex, Thomas, Channing, and Jacob, but no _strange_ boys! Daddy! Papa! Tell her she can’t have a boy-friend!”

Stiles looked like Christmas had been cancelled and it was all Derek could do not to break out into hysterical laughter when his mate crossed his arms over his chest and firmly said, “No boyfriends until you are in High School!” the strict tone somewhat undermined by his subsequent imitation of a panicking, gaping fish.

Leonie looked horrified.

“Wha … but _Daddy_! I don’t have a boyfriend!”

Derek relaxed just a little when he realized she was telling the truth, his brief horror visions of having to give her the talk soon after all rapidly disappearing in favor of amusement as he looked at his unconvinced mate.

“Are you _sure_?” he began in his best interrogator voice, supported by Cas, who once again declared, “ _No_ boyfriends!” and Noah’s quick nodding.

As the conversation at the table began to resemble a rather silly sitcom Derek leaned back into his chair, chuckling to himself quietly when a tiny foot poked against where his hand was resting on his left side.

“Did you hear that baby-girl? I thought you’d only have to deal with your jealous Daddy when you want to start dating but it looks like your brothers will have something to say about it as well.”

“Puppy wants to play with other boys, _too_? Puppy doesn’t even _know_ Noah and me yet, why doesn’t she like us?! Not _fair_!”

Cas sounded scandalized, Noah’s eyes were wide, Leonie’s head had dropped onto the table and Stiles was just staring into space, seemingly unable to cope with realizing that they would have to go through children having their first dates five times in total for the moment and Derek … simply laughed.

 

==================

 

Derek had no idea how his resourceful mate had pulled it off, but three days later the werewolf found himself relaxing in the biggest bathtub he had ever seen, his by far favorite feature of the honeymoon suite Stiles had booked at a little spa in a remote area about three hours south of Beacon Hills, conveniently owned by a no-nonsense Beta werewolf in her late seventies, who had not even blinked an eye when she had taken in the size of Derek’s stomach.

The kids were spending the weekend at their grandparents’ house and though Derek would have been glad to just have the house to himself for a weekend, Stiles had refused, arguing that if they were going on a baby-moon they were going to do it in style.

Despite his initial concerns over abandoning their kids for the weekend – he really couldn’t help it, the nesting was starting a bit early this time – Derek soon discovered that being selfish was absolutely acceptable on occasion, a realization that might or might not have had to do with the toe-curling sensual massage he was currently receiving from his husband.

“Feels good,” he murmured, closing his eyes and sighing contentedly when Stiles whispered, “I missed you so much,” in return.

Derek shared the sentiment.

They had not really been intimate for almost five months, any amorous activities first put on hold because of the HG, which had made it almost impossible for Derek to tolerate Stiles’ smell, let alone his touch, and then because of the HG-medication, which had drained so much of his energy.

Falling asleep mid-fellatio was a mortifying experience that Derek didn’t want to repeat any time soon.

Now, however, he felt good, stronger than he had in a while and ready to embrace the pregnancy sex hormones for the last time.

In his mate’s ever eloquent words, the ‘sexing’ was so going to happen this weekend.

Many times in a row and in all the positions.

Well … not quite all of them, not by a long shot, but Derek was willing to go the extra-mile.

For now, however, he was very much content with receiving a slow, languid hand job in the bathtub, throwing his head back and resting it against Stiles’ shoulders, which allowed his mate to kiss and nip all over his neck.

It was over far too quickly but they _did_ have the entire weekend, as Stiles pointed out between soft gasps and moans as his husband returned the favor with a cocky grin, Alpha instincts clearly satisfied by the pleased sounds he hadn’t heard in so long.

Because it was a werewolf-run establishment, Derek was reasonably confident that the walls were appropriately thick, however, his confidence faltered just the tiniest bit when their 70-year old hotel manager Anne, who apparently ran the kitchen as well, placed a large carafe of water on their table when they made their way down to dinner, her gaze appreciative as she gave Stiles the once-over.

“Your mate takes good care of you, son?” she asked and Derek nodded with a soft smile, grabbing Stiles’ hand when his mate flushed in embarrassment and stroking his knuckles.

“To my full satisfaction,” he answered, blaming his pregnancy brain immediately for the unintended double entendre as Stiles’ mouth dropped open and the old werewolf clucked her tongue in approval.

“I am glad to hear it. What may I serve you gentlemen to eat tonight? This establishment prides itself on offering a large variety of nutritious and delicious food, equally suitable for building up your human’s stamina and nourishing your little ones,” Anne announced, ignoring Stiles’ choked inhale.

“May you give us a minute to look at the menu?” Derek asked politely and once Anne had left their table, presumably to not-so-subtly interrogate the other couple in the room on their stamina and general state of sex-life as far as Stiles was concerned, the human frowned at his mate.

“For the record Derek, your human’s stamina is _excellent_!” he huffed and Derek laughed, gripping his husband’s hand more tightly.

“Don’t take it personally – in her generation intermarriage between humans and werewolves was not quite as common as it is today. She means well by being concerned,” he explained and Stiles sputtered.

“She does not need to be concerned about your satisfaction my love, that is all _my_ concern and I’m not even a tiny bit worried. At all. Nope, never. Oh god, Derek, is there something you’re not telling me? Do you smell unsatisfied? Should I have given you a blowjob, too?”

Derek resisted the urge to hide his face in his hands, jerking his head towards the other couple, two werewolves who seemed to be in their mid-eighties, whose heads had jerked up at Stiles’ offer of a blowjob.

“Stiles …” he groaned and Stiles clammed his mouth shut, his expression relaxing when Derek mouthed, “I’m _very_ satisfied,” with a reassuring grin.

Ten minutes later, any semblance of satisfaction had disappeared from Derek’s face as he perused the menu.

“Something the matter Satisfied Wolf?” Stiles smiled teasingly and Derek dropped the menu with a sigh, rubbing his belly with a woeful expression.

“I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be difficult, I just … I don’t want _anything_ on this menu,” he lamented and Stiles, who had been ready to order his lasagna five minutes ago, sighed.

“Maybe they can make you something special?” he suggested and Derek shook his head.

“I can’t ask them that now, can I? That would be rude,” he snapped, regretting it immediately when Stiles winced.

“Sorry Stiles, that was unnecessary. I just … I want … _rabbit_. They only have chicken, deer, beef, and buffalo, but oh my god, Stiles, I can only think about rabbits right now! Rabbit-filet with … chocolate sauce. White chocolate sauce with a dash of lemon and … capers? Seriously babies? Capers?”

For a moment Derek looked almost as disgusted as Stiles felt when he stared at his belly, however, the look of disgust was soon replaced with blissful joy as he continued to describe the texture of the chocolate sauce to his increasingly queasy mate, only to once again pout when he remembered that there was no rabbit on the menu.

As if she had overheard their entire conversation, Anne was suddenly standing at their table, a look of contemplation on her sun-tanned, wrinkled face.

“I am truly sorry son, we currently don’t offer any rabbit-dishes, _however_ …” she trailed off, looking at Stiles with an almost predatory grin and causing the human to fidget uncomfortably.

“You are in luck dear boy. It just so happens that we started raising rabbits in the backyard a couple of months ago. Our clientele is usually more interested in deer and other larger mammals, but due to a recent treaty of the resident Alpha – who’s a damn fool if you ask _me_ – this establishment is now forced to cater to fairies on occasion and _apparently_ these delicate creatures won’t eat anything that doesn’t have long, floppy ears. Ridiculous if you ask me, but nevertheless, we do have a couple of perfect specimen just about ready to serve. I am sure your mate would love the chance to provide for you, dear!” she announced, grinning at Stiles who nodded eagerly for all of two seconds before he froze.

“Hold on! What do you mean, chance to _provide_ for my mate?” he exclaimed and Anne shook her head with a frown.

“What do you mean, what do I mean? Provide of course. Does he not know how to _provide,_ son?”

“I provide _plenty_!” Stiles interrupted her, a nervous blush spreading over his face when Derek’s mouth went slack with growing realization.

Anne scoffed.

“Then how come you aren’t already outside, catching a rabbit for your _pregnant_ mate so he and the babes may receive nourishment?” she countered and Stiles paled.

“ _Catching_ a rabbit? Derek?” he whined, sounding helpless now and Derek wanted to be a good, sympathetic mate, he really did, but he also really wanted rabbit and that desire was quickly overpowering any other emotions he currently had.

“Please?” he smiled hopefully, resting both hands on his belly for emphasis, and Stiles looked almost betrayed when Anne grabbed his upper arm, hauling him off the chair as if he weighed nothing, and herded him out of the restaurant and towards the backyard of the hotel.

With a sigh Derek got up as well, figuring that he should at least cheer Stiles on in what would probably be a hopeless attempt at satisfying one of his more … carnivorous cravings, and he was not surprised when the older couple got up and joined him as well.

Despite being hungry Derek had to laugh at the spectacle that presented itself before his eyes as he stepped on the porch, his mouth watering as he saw the two big rabbits that currently seemed to be chasing his _mate_ across the yard, rather than the other way around.

Anne was presiding over the chase with an air of utmost authority, calmly calling out suggestions and huffing in frustration when one rabbit shot between Stiles’ feet, causing his mate to almost stumble into the mud.

“Your first?” the wife of the older couple suddenly asked from Derek’s left and he turned towards her politely, a grin forming on his face when her eyes widened as he answered, “Fourth and fifth actually.”

“Huh! Who would have thought,” her husband grumbled from his right, staring at Stiles in what Derek could only describe as a devastatingly judgmental fashion.

“Your mate is an … _enthusiastic_ provider,” the wife said politely and Derek laughed, rubbing his belly with a fond look.

“He is a good man,” he agreed, almost choking on air when the tiny old werewolf on his right grumbled, “Well, he is _not_ a good catcher – _that’s_ obvious for a variety of reasons!”

“Jonathan!” his wife squeaked out, sounding horrified, and Derek gave her a reassuring smile, too amused by the whole situation to really care about the inappropriateness.

“Our youngest is named Jonathan,” he offered and the woman held out her hand with a resolute smile.

“Estelle. And I do hope your Jonathan will grow up to have better manners than my Jonathan,” she huffed, ignoring her husband’s indignant grumbling.

“My mate and I are doing our best,” Derek said amicably, smiling at Jonathan when the old man, apparently determined to prove that the did have manners, dragged over a rocking chair from the end of the porch so Derek could sit down and rest his back.

“I guess all he can try is his best,” Estelle agreed, wincing a little when Stiles let out a rather high-pitched squeak as one of the rabbits jumped at him and swiped its paw at him, reaching far higher than Derek would have given the tiny creature credit for.

“I do believe you are not getting rabbit tonight,” Jonathan remarked drily when the second rabbit once again evaded Stiles’ grasp and disappeared out of sight, causing him to flail mid-air and face-plant himself in the grass.

“Deeeeerek!” Stiles called out helplessly, spitting out grass and something that Derek really hoped was dried mud as his husband got to his feet again.

“Derek I love you and I love the puppies, I _swear_ but I can’t provide this for you! I’m so sorry, please don’t hate me!” he begged, chest heaving as he stared at Anne with a look of near-fear in his eyes.

“ _Puppies_?” Estelle exclaimed incredulously and Derek shook his head quickly, indicating that there was no use in correcting his mate as he sighed deeply.

“It’s ok Stiles … at least you tried,” he called out, trying to sound encouraging rather than deeply disappointed and judging from the look of dismay on Stiles’ face he had obviously not succeeded.

His mate accepted the towel Anne held out to him with a pinched expression, like a man walking to his execution, and when he trotted towards the porch he looked so defeated that Derek decided to take pity on him.

“I love you,” he smiled as he got up from the rocking chair, reaching out and picking some leaves out of Stiles’ sweaty hair and Stiles’ lips twitched as he tried to smile, both hands coming to rest on Derek’s belly as he stroked the protrusion apologetically.

“Daddy tried, he really did!” he muttered, ignoring Anne’s tsking as she waltzed past him and trying and failing to smile charmingly when Derek introduced Estelle and Jonathan to him.

The werewolf couple chose not to comment on the embarrassing rabbit-chase, bombarding Stiles with questions about his education, job, and handyman skills instead (“Providing-obsessed junkies … the whole lot of you! Gah, _yes_ , provide my dick off, _please_!” Stiles exclaimed later that night, in the safety of their room and with a rather horny, naked husband riding him into near-oblivion) and by the time they arrived back in the restaurant their food was already waiting for them.

Stiles uttered a shaky, somewhat resigned laugh when he took in the tender rabbit-filet on Derek’s plate, slathered in white chocolate sauce with a hint of lemon and dotted with capers.

“I am _not_ sorry,” Anne commented as she appeared out of nowhere and patted Stiles’ back, grinning at him with shiny teeth as she exclaimed, “At least now your mate knows that even though you may not always succeed you will always _try_ to be a good provider!”

There was a lot Stiles wanted to say in that moment, things that were not necessarily nice, but when he took in the look of near orgasmic bliss on Derek’s face as his hungry mate practically inhaled the tender meat, as well as the contented sighs as the pregnant werewolf licked the chocolate sauce from his spoon, he decided to go with a heartfelt “Thank you,” instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, Leonie has her 12th birthday party and Jackson surprises everyone when he reveals who has been the reason for all his smiling lately (feel free to take a wild guess).
> 
> Now: You guys know that I address compliment as well as criticism and therefore, I would also like to address the 'anti-bookmark' that Temaris left on this fic today, especially concerning this chapter.
> 
> His/Her concerns with this story and series seem to boil down to two main reasons: my in his/her opinion portrayal of Stiles as the biggest loser there ever was (or, as he/she puts it, chopped liver who is neither human nor researcher) and Leonie's bullying ways. 
> 
> As for my portrayal of Stiles (who, in this verse, is a successful head of a big company's PR department, a job that I gave him precisely because of his research-talents btw): we all have different kinds of humor and my writing of him is my kind of humor. It is not meant to offend anyone and if it does, I am truly sorry. 
> 
> As for the bullying: me and Temaris obviously have different sensibilities when it comes to bullying. For him/her, it's my original character Leonie and everything about her.
> 
> He/she chooses to express this by referring to my original characters as 'the bully' (Leonie), 'the doormat' (Noah), and 'the one named for that guy off SPN with no discernable characteristics of his own' (Cas) rather than their names, creating a 'do not read' tag for my story, warning everyone away from not only my fic and my series, but also me as an author and essentially mocking all of my readers who have so far enjoyed this story by - I'm sorry for putting it bluntly - condescendingly remarking on the surprising amount of love for the sterek-mpreg with stiles hate-niche I have created here.
> 
> To recap: in order to express his/her contempt for Leonie and her bullying, Temaris bullies my original characters right back by not even referring to their names and rather resorting to name-calling, e.g. 'doormat', he/she bullies me by warning people away from not only my story and series, but also everything I have ever written and tagging my story with 'do not read' and third (and this is why I am even writing all of this) bullying my readers by trying to shame them for liking my story.
> 
> Original characters are always a tricky subject, I certainly didn't like all of the ones I have ever come across, therefore, I don't expect everyone to like mine either and I take no offense to it.
> 
> There are plenty of writers whose portrayal of the characters doesn't click with me, therefore I don't expect everyone to like my stories and series either and I take no offense to it.
> 
> But attacking/shaming my readers for liking my story (and to me and my sensibilities when it comes to bullying that is what happened here) in your attempt to voice your unhappiness with me as an author is unacceptable and I would kindly ask you to please refrain from doing that. 
> 
> Thank you.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My lovelies! I want to thank all of you for your amazing and kind words of encouragement in reaction to my response to that - let's call it "critical" for diplomatic reasons - bookmark left on this fic last week. 
> 
> I am old enough and secure enough as a fan fic author who loves her hobby and treats it as a hobby to understand that while I personally do not believe in shaming another author's work, some take great pleasure in it. 
> 
> As one commenter pointed out, the problem with shaming someone's work is that more often than not these people are teenagers who are just starting to fall in love with the art that is writing. Case in point, my personal favorite Teen Wolf fan fiction, "No Homo" by RemainNameless was (yes, I will forever encourage people to read it, it's that good), according to her Tumblr, written by someone who is 20 years old .... 20 years old and that story hooked me in, moved me, and blew me away like a novel by one of my favorite authors who have worked their magic for decades. 
> 
> What I mean is, you never know how old people are and why they write what they do and I encourage all of you to offer support to authors who receive comments that are clearly meant to hurt and stir up controversy whenever you see them. It makes a difference and I am fiercely proud that so many caring, awesome people are reading my little 'verse here!
> 
> Kudos to all of you!

_June 26 th (27 Weeks)_

In the weeks leading up to Leonie’s birthday party the one thing on everyone’s mind was Jackson.

Or rather, the goofy smile he seemed to be unable to wipe off his face these days.

It wasn’t that anyone was opposed to seeing Jackson so happy, especially not after the emotional toll his divorce had taken on him, but the entire pack agreed that it was absolutely unacceptable that no one had any idea _why_ he was so happy, especially since almost everyone was in agreement that it probably had to do with a new relationship.

Erica and Boyd had decided to go for the element of surprise, dropping by the Whittemore residence with Channing and Polly unannounced and claiming that their kids wanted another play-date with Emilia.

“His hair was all tussled up and he smelled _really_ satisfied if you know what I mean … but whoever it is does not have a scent, this is outrageous!” Erica had complained in a mass text sent to the entire pack minus Jackson that evening.

Cora had suggested taking the Beta out for drinks and then delegated the task to Isaac, when Derek had refused to play babysitter to her twins for investigative purposes.

The texting updates Isaac, who was perhaps the least interested in Jackson’s love life, had sent to the pack that evening had not been very enlightening on the subject either.

_Isaac: Can someone please tell me the girls have ever done **anything** wrong, please?_

**_Erica: He’s dating more than one woman?!_ **

_Isaac: Yep, three of them. They are 8, 5, and 2 and if I have to see one more picture of Josie’s science fair experiment I will strangle myself with my scarf._

**_Stiles: Don’t be such a hater! That was a kick-ass science project! And I say that as a mature father who is not at all bitter that she beat out Noah for the first place._ **

_Lydia: First of all: Hater? Really? That’s … so last decade Stiles. And secondly, **I** helped Josie with that project, so thread with caution Isaac!_

**_Derek: Stiles, we’ve talked about this, Noah should have devoted more attention to detail._ **

_Scott: I thought both of their projects were really good. Mikey’s still sad he didn’t get to participate, though since he’s one year older :(._

**_Stiles: Derek! I’m outraged at our son’s behalf!_ **

**_Stiles: And also, Scott, dude, I KNOW, our boys could have been Scott and Stiles 2.0 … which would have been really funny because they actually look like us. But noooooo, you just couldn’t keep it in your pants for another year and now Noah will always be the annoying, immature 3 rd grader to Mikey’s mature 4th grader._ **

_Scott: Dude! You’re the one who didn’t get a move on!_

**_Allison: Which “immature” Noah are we talking about exactly? The one that was trying to be an adult at age 3?_ **

_Boyd: FYI, my wife just woke up our kids because she started howling with laughter at the mere idea that Stiles didn’t “get a move on” with Derek at any given point in time. They are now screeching and I hate you all._

**_Stiles: Ha! Just for that I’m getting a move on right now, you just watch me!_ **

_Scott: Dude! Don’t tell me these things!_

_Scott: But it really did take you forever to get started on that second kid, we were all a little surprised._

**_Stiles: What? I resent that! I was ready the moment that uterus was vacant again and I hig_ **

**_Stiles: %xmay304u23_ **

_Scott: Uh … buddy?_

**_Derek: Stiles is sleeping on the couch tonight. Keep talking and it will be_ ** _your **couch, Scott.**_

_Scott: SORRY! I’M HERE FOR YOU BUDDY!_

**_Stiles: I love you, too!_ **

_Scott: ME, TOO!_

**_Cora: Seriously? Can we please get back to the subject at hand? And for the record, the only reason Josie won that science fair is because I don’t trust my kids with scissors yet._ **

_Boyd: My kids are still screaming and it’s all your fault._

**_Erica: Seconded! And for the record, Chan-Chan and Polly will rule all of you losers as soon as they stop growling and start talking!_ **

**_Erica: They’re awesome that way._ **

_Isaac: I have a scarf and I will use it, seriously._

_Isaac: I love all of your kids, I really do, but I mean it, one more mention of that stupid science fair and I am never babysitting for anyone ever again!_

**_Cora: Except me, I hope :p ?_ **

_Isaac: ;-)_

**_Derek: Hold on!_ **

**_Derek: Why are you winking at my sister?_ **

**_Derek: Isaac?_ **

**_Derek: Cora?!_ **

_Cora: :p_

**_John: Why must I always be included in these group things? Why do they always take place at night when the constant pinging of my phone startles me awake? Why must I be informed about when my son is getting a move on with his husband? Do I look like I care? I don’t care! Stop doing this to me!_ **

_Stiles: Hey Dad! Did you know that Cora is banging Isaac?!_

_[John Stilinski left the conversation]_

The next morning an amused Cora had explained to a still fuming Derek that sometimes a winky face was just a winky face, despite what overprotective brothers thought and while Derek had darkly vowed to watch his curly-haired Beta carefully from now on, Stiles – who had not had to spend the night on the couch after all – had lamented that they still didn’t know the identity of Jackson’s mystery lover.

By the time Leonie’s pack birthday party rolled around the fact that none of the wolves had been able to pick up on a scent had led Stiles and Scott to conclude that Jackson was dating a vampire and for the first hour of Leonie’s celebration both of them tried to sneak surreptitious glances at Jackson’s neck, searching for suspicious puncture wounds that could have withstood werewolf healing.

Jackson himself seemed to be relatively unaffected by the attention devoted to him and it wasn’t until the older children were watching the younger ones and the adults of the Hale-McCall pack had just made themselves comfortable with pieces of Leonie’s birthday cake that the blonde Beta cleared his throat with a smirk, eyes glinting provocatively.

“I have an announcement!” he declared pompously, managing to look both nervous and arrogant at the same time.

“It has come to my attention that certain members of this pack have recently spent their valuable free-time wondering about what I do in _my_ free-time and for the sake of your precious children, whom I am sure would appreciate it if you spent more thoughts on them rather than on me, my genitals, and where I am putting them, I decided to shed some light on recent developments to brighten up the look on your confused faces.”

“Excuse me?”

That was Stiles, sounding both baffled and a little insulted and Jackson grunted.

“I am of course aware that especially you and Scott are essentially two old wives in training and that gossiping is in your nature – ouch, damn it Lydia, I was kidding – but I would really appreciate it if you could tone it down in the future, especially since I have three young daughters, one of which is a werewolf and will quite possibly end up listening in on the two of you wondering about what I do with my dick, but the simple fact of the matter is …”

“That dick is _mine_ now. Well … not really of course, I guess we technically have shared ownership, but it’s pretty damn great and though I fully understand your need to obsess over it, we’d appreciate it if you could keep your noses to yourself and out of our business.”

Lydia and Ethan were the only ones who didn’t react, the smirk on their faces suggesting that they had known about it all along, but Derek was almost sure he could hear the clunk of at least ten jaws – his own included – hitting the floor when the pack members whipped their heads between Aiden and Jackson, staring at the smirking men in total and utter shock.

“The what and _what now_?!” Stiles squeaked, the first to recover from the shock and Jackson’s slightly nervous expression turned into a smug grin.

“Me and Aiden. Together. Having a great time. With our dicks.”

“Our personalities, too, also love and all that romantic bullshit, but that’s not any of your concern either,” Aiden added, grinning as he stood up and sat down next to Jackson, one arm draped possessively around the slightly smaller man’s shoulders.

“But … you _hate_ each other!” Scott meeped and Aiden shook his head with a barking laugh.

“ _Deaton_ hates me, but I really could care less. Jackson here was quite impressed with my _everything_ the moment we met in the hospital when Noah broke his arm,” he declared and Jackson nodded, frowning at Stiles when he began to flail on his seat.

“But … you basically look alike!” he finally protested and Derek’s eyes widened as he glared at his mate, wondering if he was morally obliged to protect him from the punch Jackson would undoubtedly deliver any second now.

“He’s hot, I’m hot, so what. I would also like to add that my man was the one whose mad skills cured Derek, so I’d be very careful about what _you_ in particular say next,” Jackson remarked and Stiles shut up immediately, eyes blinking rapidly as his brain was apparently still in the process of rebooting.

“Have you guys been sneaking around behind all of our backs ever since Noah’s accident?” Cora exclaimed and Aiden nodded proudly, grinning at the baffled pack.

“And we were quite successful, too. Of course it was a little difficult to get the girls to stay silent, but luckily I have access to Uncle Ethan, who has mad cookie-baking skills and a knack for bribing the Whittemore princesses,” he explained, smirking at his brother, who nodded with a smug smile.

“And the girls like you?” Derek spoke up, aware that he was treading a thin line between appropriate and inappropriate but suddenly very concerned for the girls’ feelings about the situation and both men snorted.

“Like me? Ha! They love me! A good thing, too, since they are pretty much the only children I can tolerate on an everyday basis.”

“They do love him!” Jackson confirmed, grinning proudly.

“He’s even convinced Josephine to start learning an instrument after I had already given up on that. Aurelia is already talking about going to medical school to become a doctor just like Aiden and Emilia loves _his_ bedtime stories even more than mine, so all things considered things are going very well in our house.”

Aiden nodded, looking over towards the playing children with a certain fondness.

“I am confident we can manage to raise them to become smart, successful, and confident young women who won’t take crap from _anyone_. Of course that means they will probably never date because between Jackson and me will scare off _everybody_ who is unworthy, but neither of us thinks that that is a bad thing,” Aiden explained and Jackson nodded, throwing a quick, besotted look at his three daughters, who were currently bouncing on the trampoline with Leonie and giggling loudly, before he turned back towards the pack.

“But … the _scent_! No one was picking up on your scent, _how_ were you able to hide this? You are not an Alpha, you can’t hide your scent!” Erica exclaimed and Aiden clasped his hands together, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Well … this is the part where it gets awkward,” he said carefully, looking at Jackson with a soft smile and closing his eyes briefly.

When he opened them again they were glowing red, startling everyone.

“How … when did _that_ happen?” Scott meeped and Aiden shrugged.

“Things between me and Jackson got serious and then one morning I woke up and …”

“You formed a pack.”

Derek’s eyebrows were drawn up to his forehead as he stared at the men in front of him, though understanding was dawning on his face.

“A pack? How did he form a pack?” Scott asked and Derek held up his hand, counting off on his fingers.

“He needed three Betas: Ethan, Jackson … and Aurelia,” he said softly and Jackson nodded, swallowing heavily as he looked at his former Alpha.

“Don’t be mad Derek, please. I wanted to tell you but it didn’t happen until recently and I wasn’t really sure how to bring it up without hurting your feelings and it took us a while to figure out why it even happened at all, but …”

“Babies!”

Stiles was grinning from ear to ear, shaking his head impatiently when the rest of the adults continued to stare at him.

“Isn’t it obvious? They want to have more adorable little babies! That’s why Aiden’s wolf turned from an Omega into an Alpha. So he could give birth to a bunch of Jackson’s love-children!” he said, gleeful expression softening when both men blushed.

“Well …” Aiden mumbled, while Jackson muttered “One of us needs to be able to actually _have_ them …” and Derek placed his hand on Scott’s arm before he stood up slowly.

“It’s ok. We understand,” he said, smiling at Jackson when the Beta’s head snapped up in surprise.

“It wasn’t … please don’t think I …” Jackson began but Derek shook his head, placing his hand on Jackson’s shoulder.

“We want you to be happy. It’s ok,” Scott added, eyes suspiciously moist as he looked at the slightly older man and Jackson relaxed, flashing both Alphas a grateful grin before he squeezed Aiden’s knee.

“This is really happening then? You guys are together, planning to raise the girls, popping out a couple more babies, and about to happily ride off into the sunset?” Erica asked, the look on her face suggesting she was torn between grinning and looking concerned and both men nodded in unison.

“Very much so,” Jackson confirmed.

“I don’t know about _a couple_ , but that’s the gist, yes,” Aiden added and Derek allowed himself to relax when Jackson beamed at his new mate.

His troubled former Beta smelled happy and content and _whole_ for the first time in almost three years and as far as Derek was concerned that was all the reason he needed to give them their blessing.

“So … do we need to draw up a contract between rival packs now?” Scott asked carefully and Aiden shook his head with a dramatic eye-roll.

“ _Rival_ packs,” he muttered, snorting when Jackson made a clucking sound with his tongue.

“As if we could ever be rivals, I’m way too invested in your kids’ happiness to ever be a rival!” he remarked, sounding almost insulted.

“Uncle Jackson’s getting _married_!” a new voice suddenly rang out and when the adults turned towards the trampoline Leonie was jumping up and down excitedly, trying to fist-pump a beaming Josephine mid-flight as she continued to bounce on the dark surface.

“Not quite yet Princess!” Jackson called out towards her, though his tone suggested they had already set a date and really, after his relationship-pace with Julia no one in the pack would have been surprised if that was actually the case.

Derek grinned – at the end of the day it was no one’s business but Aiden’s and Jackson’s and though he would have never in a million years thought that the two of them would fall for each other, he was nevertheless grateful to see Jackson so happy.

 

================

 

The news of Aiden and Jackson’s relationship and the formation of the Carver-Whittemore pack was still on everyone’s mind that night and Derek was trying to get comfortable, an almost impossible feat with both children kicking up a storm at the same time and his lower back hurting like crazy, when Stiles slipped behind him and started kneading his fingers into the sore muscles, making little intrigued noises.

“I don’t know whether I want to ship them or call them an unholy union,” the human said slowly and Derek laughed, leaning back against Stiles when the younger man’s arms circled his waist.

“Shipping people we know is a little creepy, don’t you think?” he suggested and Stiles laughed as well, hands coming to rest above both children.

“Derek my love, when will you learn, I _always_ ship everyone with everyone. It’s not a chosen life-style; I was born this way. Except our children, our children are never allowed on a ship, pun intended!” he decided and Derek grinned, smile turning into a slight grimace when their mystery baby delivered a well-aimed kick into his ribs.

“Werewolf kicks?” Stiles asked sympathetically, reaching for the lotion on Derek’s nightstand and lifting up his mate’s shirt so he had free access as he began to rub the calming lotion into the werewolf’s stretched skin.

“I don’t know,” Derek said honestly, groaning softly when Baby A delivered what was most definitely a werewolf kick against his bladder.

“If our daughter comes out a human I will eat my shoes with ketchup and mayonnaise, but Baby B is somewhere in between Noah and Cas. The kicks technically aren’t that strong, but this child has precision aim,” he mused and Stiles patted the right side of his stomach lightly.

“Hey you two, I know we had an exciting day, but you gotta behave and go to sleep now, Papa needs his beauty-sleep,” he said gently and Derek chuckled.

“Papa is handsome enough as it is, thank you very much,” he remarked, laughing out loud when Stiles gave him an utterly besotted look and grinned, “That he is” before their lips were pressed together.

Stiles was clearly hoping to take it further but the long afternoon spent sitting on the porch had taken its toll on Derek’s back and so they resorted to cuddling instead, with Stiles spooning against Derek’s back as the werewolf lay on his side.

“So …” Stiles said after a while, fingers tracing circles around Derek’s bellybutton and following the babies’ movements.

“I thought these two would be the youngest pack children but it seems like Jackson and Aiden are going to give us a run for our money,” he remarked and Derek chuckled, resting his hand on top of Stiles’.

“I think they’ll survive not being the youngest pack babies,” he said and Stiles shrugged.

“I know. But still, I didn’t see this coming at all. And I stand by it: they look so much alike! Their children are going to be clones of them, mark my words!” he declared, grunting when Derek elbowed him playfully.

“Just because they have the same hairstyle and general attitude doesn’t mean they look alike. In fact, they actually don’t look alike at all,” he corrected his mate and Stiles shrugged.

“Details. I still say they are like the same person. This is either going to be magical or end in total disaster.”

“For all of our sakes, let’s hope for the former,” Derek muttered, halfway to being asleep already.

“Is it bad that I am kind of wishing that Jackson would have been the Alpha? A pregnant Jackson would have been … an adventure,” Stiles spoke up again and Derek grunted.

“Yes Stiles, it’s bad. Go to sleep!”

“Then again, Jackson would probably not have been a good Alpha, _that_ would have been a disaster waiting to happen. I’m not throwing shade on the guy, but it’s a fact,” Stiles mused, ignoring Derek’s soft growl as he continued to rub his mate’s swollen abdomen.

“When do you think they’ll start having babies? I hope they’ll have a boy! Josephine has been jealous of Leonie for having wrapped Noah and Cas around her finger for ages and besides, it’s nice to have the experience of both! Also, imagine how handsome that little bugger would be!”

“Call him little bugger and Jackson will _never_ speak to you again,” Derek commented sleepily, obviously having resigned himself to not getting any sleep for now.

“Speaking of little buggers … I can’t wait for our appointment next week! You were right, knowing one gender makes waiting for the other gender reveal almost unbearable! Still no insights? You are really not joking with me, you _really_ don’t know?” Stiles asked, his hand softly pressing against the right side of Derek’s stomach. Derek shook his head.

“It’s a very secretive baby,” he said and Stiles laughed quietly.

“Well, it was hiding its heartbeat behind its sister’s for quite some time, so I’m sure we’re going to have our hands full with that one, regardless of whether it’s a boy or a girl!”

Derek laughed, then winced when their precision-aim baby kicked against his kidney.

“I’m sure we’ll find out next week,” he said and Stiles kissed his shoulder softly, nuzzling against his neck with a smile.

“We better … or else that kid is grounded for the first year of its life! For keeping really important secrets from its parents!” he declared, smirking when he saw Derek rolling his eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me my love, _you_ were the one grounding our innocent children for forcing you into wardrobe fails years ago, I just learned from you!” he teased and Derek sighed softly, rolling onto his back and framing his stomach with both hands.

“If I use those criteria this time our poor babies won’t leave this house until high school – I’m calling it now, I’m not going to fit into _anything_ by the time they get here, I’m already wearing some of my clothes from the very end of the last pregnancy,” he muttered and Stiles grinned proudly.

“I noticed. Kind of hard not to, with such an abundance of gorgeousness sleeping right next to me,” he said and Derek snorted.

“Do not tease me, I am feeling very insecure right now and I have yet to suffer a hormonal breakdown. It might just be tonight,” he informed his mate, shaking his head when Stiles sat back on his haunches so he could drape his arms all over his mate’s body, resting his chin on the crest of Derek’s belly as he peered up at him from under his eyelashes.

“Did you hear that kids? That kind of complaining was an example of what Daddy likes to call ‘fishing for compliments’ even if Papa likes to deny it!” he smiled and Derek tried his best to look annoyed, a feat made almost impossible by the gentle kisses Stiles was placing all over his skin.

His back was still hurting a little when he pulled his mate up for another kiss but there was definitely something to be said for the muscle-relaxing powers of orgasms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I said the pack was done with having babies? Well, I could argue that I meant the "Hale-McCall" pack and the Carver-Whittemore pack is a different pack but I'll freely admit that this was not planned at all.
> 
> However, people kept hoping for more Jackson-babies and then I got a head-canon about overprotective Jackson forming an unlikely bromance with Stiles over their shared understanding of unreasonable pregnant male Alpha mates who just don't understand that concern is totally justified in such an unusual situation, complete with Aiden becoming increasingly annoyed because unlike Jackson he actually knows a thing or two about pregnancy and doesn't appreciate being treated like a baby all the time when he knows for a fact that he and the kid are fine, Scott becoming super-jealous of Jackson hanging out with his best buddy all the time, and Derek battling petty feelings of insecurity and jealousy because he was kind of digging the special status he had as "only male pregnant Alpha" in the area in like forever. Only he'd rather bite off his tongue than admit to something like that and cue some Sterek fluff and miscommunication.
> 
> So yeah, there you go. I'm sure having a desire for children is not how you become an Alpha, but it's not like we love and adore Teen Wolf for its dedication to continuity and logical sense, so I though, what the heck ;-).
> 
> Would you guys be interested in a little (and I do mean comparatively little, it wouldn't extend 30 K, if at all) stand-alone story that fills in the blanks of how Jackson and Aiden got together in the first place, how they formed their little patchwork family and how they eventually welcomed the child that will forever hold the title of 'official pack-baby'? 
> 
> As far as this one goes - next up: Stiles wants to ground his baby, the naming-box method is not working out at all, and Derek learns that sneezing, coughing, and laughing now comes with unwelcome special effects.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there be some Twilight spoilers in this chapter ... nothing that I haven't commented on before in his series, but you know, just be aware ;-).

_July 1 st (28 Weeks)_

“I’m starting to believe it’s doing it on purpose!” Stiles huffed when Aiden turned off the ultrasound machine with a resigned sigh, looking a little vexed at himself for once again failing to provide the Hale-Stilinski family with an answer.

“Short of an invasive blood test that I don’t really want to do, there is really nothing I can do to find out Baby B’s gender,” Aiden said apologetically and Derek shrugged, somehow having expected the outcome of today’s appointment.

Leonie, Noah, and Cas were wearing matching expressions of disappointment and Derek had to suppress a sad smile when Noah softly poked his finger into his right side, an endearingly determined look on his face.

“It’s a trickster baby, like me. That means it’s human, right?” he asked and Stiles ruffled his hair affectionately.

“Maybe Noah-Boa, maybe,” he offered with a gentle smile and Noah nodded, obviously satisfied.

Leonie was giving them an odd look and Derek flashed his Alpha eyes at her for the briefest of moments, hoping she would understand that he didn’t want her to point out to Noah that he currently remained the only one convinced that one of the twins was a human baby.

“There really is no other way to find out?” Leonie asked after a short pause, studiously avoiding both Derek and Noah’s eyes, and Aiden shook his head.

“Sorry Princess, there’s really nothing I can do until the little one starts cooperating with me,” he said apologetically, seemingly not even aware that he had referred to Leonie as ‘Princess’.

It was a sure sign that he had been spending a lot of time with Jackson, who had never stopped calling her by this moniker, and Derek didn’t even try to suppress a pleased smile when he saw the big grin on Stiles’ face.

The fact that Jackson and Aiden were not only in a relationship but had also formed a new pack together had preoccupied both Derek and Scott for a couple of days after the revelation, happiness for Jackson intermingling with concern over what this development meant for the stability of the pack.

Technically, those concerns were unfounded – Leonie was almost ready to start shifting during the full moons and in the coming years eight other werewolves would mature into the pack, so they were just bound to become stronger.

However, Jackson had been the first Beta Derek had created after he had become an Alpha and despite his reassurances to Jackson he hadn’t been able to stop himself from brooding over it the day after – right until Stiles had decided to put the situation into a different perspective.

“Hey Derek? By biting Jackson you technically became his sire, right?” he had asked, a cheeky grin on his face, and though Derek had wanted to growl at the vampire-reference he had nodded, only to frown in confusion when Stiles’ grin had widened.

“Well … as far as I’m concerned that kind of makes you his werewolf-father, which means that Aiden is now your Alpha son-in-law so really, there is no reason for the sour face. He’s still in the family he just … gave us a couple of in-laws. Which, if you think about it, is really good practice for when our children get married. After all, they might want to marry into another pack as well, it’s best we get used to this now, right?” he had suggested and Derek had grimaced.

“I guess,” he had finally admitted and Stiles had cackled triumphantly.

“You know what that means, right?” he had grinned and Derek had smiled despite his still melancholic attitude.

“You’ve been mated to me long enough to know that I almost _never_ know what you mean, right?” he had replied and Stiles’ grin had widened to impossible proportions.

“It means that we can be the scary parents-in-law and terrorize Aiden! I’m getting ideas here Derek! We could drop in unannounced at all times of the day, we could nag them for the stupidest little things, we could intimidate them into …”

Derek had held up his hand to stop him, grinning despite himself.

“I’m pretty sure having Ethan breathing down Jackson’s neck in his attempts to make sure that his brother is treated right is enough intimidation for both of them for now … though we could drop by tomorrow night for dinner, I guess. Just to make sure they are doing ok … and breathe down _Aiden’s_ neck, just to even things out a little,” he had suggested, grin turning into a pleased smile when Stiles had smirked.

“Let’s do it after the ultrasound – just in case!”

As they drove back towards their home, Stiles turned to Derek with a sheepish smile on his face.

“So – that didn’t work out,” he began, and Derek shrugged.

“I had a feeling it wouldn’t,” he muttered and Stiles sighed theatrically, turning his eyes back towards the road.

“Baby B is hereby officially grounded. I mean it, Daddy is so _over_ the suspense!” he decided and Derek laughed, only to be interrupted by a little scandalized voice coming from the backseat.

“Puppy didn’t do anything wrong! You can’t ground it!”

Cas was glaring out of his car seat and Derek looked at him fondly.

Leonie had mostly taken her groundings in stride, amidst some grumbling and sulking, but they had never used grounding as a disciplinary method for Noah, for the very simple reason that their oldest son had never really perceived having to spend quiet time in his room with his books and toys as a punishment, thus rendering the method very ineffective in terms of discipline.

Grounding Cas, however, was almost more of a punishment for the entire family than their youngest child, for whom being confined to his room seemed to equal cruel and unusual punishment.

Though he continued to look like Derek’s little clone, his behavior these days was often all Stiles as a child, never sitting still, constantly chattering, and with the attention span of a fruit fly, though Stiles firmly claimed that their youngest was able to turn his attention span on and off given the degree of interest he had in his surroundings. 

He had always been a very energetic child, but in the last couple of months Cas had almost tripled his pace in seemingly everything he did.

He was almost five and Stiles had spent quite a bit of time researching ADHD lately and gravely informed Derek that symptoms could qualify as ADHD by the age of six if they lasted for multiple months.

Having loved a rather impulsive, still slightly hyperactive man for roughly two decades and having advice-access to a father who had raised a child with ADHD mostly on his own, Derek wasn’t necessarily dreading the idea, but he was not looking forward to the path of accidental destruction a hyperactive little werewolf would leave in his wake.

Stiles, meanwhile, had decided to simply hope that werewolf healing would make the point moot.

Of course it was hard to see Noah being left out whenever Leonie and Cas were engaged in werewolf-rough-housing, but in his weaker moments Derek was secretly glad that his oldest still devoted that time to her little brother.

Rough-housing with his big sister was usually a good conduit for Cas to release a lot of energy and, ADHD or not, Derek shuddered to think of the destruction his youngest would have wreaked upon the house by now if Leonie hadn’t regularly played with him.

Derek’s thoughts were interrupted when Cas let out another noise of protest and he flashed him a reassuring smile, mind going back to the last time they had grounded him and trying to forget the heartbreaking little howls that had come from his room for two hours straight.

“We are not grounding Baby B, Cas. Daddy was joking,” he said, resolutely ignoring Stiles mouthing, “Daddy was _so_ not joking” at him.

“That would be mean! You have to apologize Daddy!” Cas decided and because they were still teaching him the value of an apology and when it was definitely necessary, Stiles sighed, keeping his eyes firmly on the road as he reached over blindly to rest his hand on Derek’s side.

“Sorry Baby B, Daddy is not going to ground you. At least not for refusing to show us if you are a little boy or a little girl, though I’m sure, given your obstinance, there will be reasons in the future,” he said lightly, wincing at Derek when all three children raised their voice in protest.

“That’s not Baby B Daddy, that’s Baby A!”

“You are foreshadowing Daddy!”

“What is obstinance?”

Stiles whistled, throwing an appreciative glance at their daughter.

“Where did you learn the word foreshadowing, Leo-Pie?”

Leonie beamed. “Did I use it right Daddy? Aunt Lydia taught me!”

Stiles exchanged an amused glance with his mate, then shook his head fondly.

“Nope, not a hundred percent, but your English teacher will give you an A just for knowing that word at the age of 12,” he promised.

“ _Daddy_ , what is obstinance?” Cas repeated, a little impatiently, and Stiles laughed.

“It means Baby B, which is on the _right_ , I know Noah, _thank you_ son, is stubborn like a mule,” he said, chuckling when Cas huffed “It’s not a mule, it’s a puppy!”

Noah cocked his head, staring at Derek’s profile with interest.

“Could you imagine if it was actually a mule?” he wondered out loud and Leonie snickered.

“It wouldn’t be just a mule Noah, it would be a were-mule! Instead of howling, it would neigh at the full moon every month!” she corrected him and Noah’s eyes lit up.

“That would be fun! We could all ride on its back,” he decided and Cas stared at his brother in confusion.

“No human?” he asked and Noah shrugged.

“If I have to chose between a were-mule and a human, I want a were-mule! We can ride on its back and play horsie for real!” he explained, grinning at his brother when Cas, who loved playing horsie, clapped his hands excitedly.

“Really? Papa! Daddy! Can Baby B be a horsie?” he almost yelled and Derek winced, both at the volume and the idea.

“I don’t think a horsie is going to fit in my belly Cas,” he said determinedly, smiling apologetically when Cas’ face fell.

“ _Are_ there were-mules or were-horses?” Leonie asked, sounding genuinely curious, and Derek rubbed his eyes in resignation.

In his opinion, she was old enough to know better by now.

“Leo-Pie … were-creatures are _predators_ … when was the last time you saw a horse eat another animal?” he asked and Leonie hit her own forehead.

“ _Right_! That’s why it was easy for Edward to eat all the horses! Because they are not predators!” she exclaimed and Stiles clucked his tongue.

“I think he actually ate mountain-lions – which, by the way, so funny on _so_ many levels, but you’re not old enough for _that_ story yet. In any case, I don’t think he ever ate a horse!” he corrected her and Leonie made a disbelieving sound.

“He could have though, Daddy. Maybe he did but he just never told Bella because maybe he was afraid she loved horses when she was little and would be mad at him?”

Derek turned towards his mate slowly, his mouth gaping open.

“You _didn’t_ …” he breathed and Stiles gulped.

“Uhm …” he said and Leonie, who was sitting behind Derek, reached forward as far as she could to pat her father’s shoulder comfortingly.

“Don’t worry Papa, I’m totally Team Jacob, he’s way cooler than Edward!”

“ _When_?!” Derek stammered and Stiles pursed his lips.

“You got your Papa-Daughter Day, I got Daddy-Daughter-Story-Time Bonding,” he defended himself and Leonie nodded enthusiastically.

“We just finished reading the second book, Papa! Daddy does the _best_ voices! I can’t wait for us to start the third one, I just _know_ Jacob will get the girl in the end, because werewolves are so much cooler than vampires!” she declared and Derek shook his head frantically.

“He gets the _girl_ alright!” he muttered, a pained expression on his face as he obviously relived the harrowing experience that had been reading the books for Stiles’ amusement and his mate shushed him, an determined expression on his face.

“Don’t spoil it for her,” he said quietly and Derek crossed his arms over his chest with a frown, turning towards the window – and feeling guilty almost immediately.

If Stiles wanted to read a book series he enjoyed to their daughter, Derek was is no position to put up a fuss over it just because he objected to the quality – and the absolutely inappropriate way soul mates worked in that universe.

“It’s not like I’m not going to sit her down and talk to her about that particular part of the books and besides, she was the one who wanted to read them in the first place, I didn’t even know she knew I had them,” Stiles said later that evening, tone a little weary and shoulders tense, though his posture relaxed when Derek wrapped his arms around him and rested his forehead against his mate’s shoulder, exhaling shakily as he apologized for his over-reaction.

“It’s ok, today was frustrating for me, too,” Stiles said softly, carding his fingers through Derek’s hair and Derek huffed a sigh.

“Does it really matter if we don’t find out before they are born?” he muttered after a short pause and Stiles shook his head.

“Do I want to know what we’re having? Yes. Do I not care as long as both of them are happy and healthy? Yes. So how about we take the pressure off the little munchkin and just stop waiting for him or her to clue us in on the secret. If Aiden can tell in one of your next appointments he can tell us and if not – well, I’m good with a 50 percent delivery surprise,” he decided and Derek nodded.

“Good, because I have a feeling that our little one will continue to be quite … _obstinate_ about this … even though it will take approximately fifteen more years until he or she knows what that even means.”

Stiles grinned.

“I caught our youngest watching _Teletubbies_ the other day – I’m only going to use big words from now on, it’s a counter-strategy!”

Derek raised his eyebrows.

“ _Teletubbies_?”

Stiles laughed.

“Ah, I forget that you’re older than me sometimes. Trust me, you didn’t miss much. The most interesting thing about that show was the crazy person who went around blaring that it was essentially gay propaganda designed to corrupt children at the top of his homophobic lungs because Tinky Winky had a handbag. Not that I’m against the idea of protecting children from this show, but I’m more interested in protecting our son’s speech development and not his gender-identity.”

“ … _Tinky Winky_?” Derek asked scandalized, scrunching up his face in confusion.

“Our son watched gay porn?”

Stiles stared at him for all of one second before he burst into an uncontrollable laughing fit.

Derek decided to humor him – and check the show out on Netlix, just in case.

 

====================

 

By the time the next naming-box drawing came around, Derek had watched most of _Teletubbies_ with Cas and the rest secretly on his own, equal parts amused by its idiosyncrasies and fascinated by how relaxing it was to just stare at moving colored dots for a while without having to use any mental faculties.

He had defended it to Stiles as a necessary bonding time with their youngest, so he wouldn’t feel left out when the babies came, and Stiles had rolled his eyes in a way that even Derek had to admit was pretty impressive.

Consequently, that much overexposure had led their youngest to submit some rather questionable naming-suggestions.

After the entire family plus Scott and Ellie, who had shown up to substitute as vote-counter and referee for the Sheriff, who was on a mini-vacation with Melissa, had voted down Tinky Winky, Dipsy, Lala, and Poo – the latter not before settling an argument over how many o’s should have been in the spelling – Scott, who was bouncing his fussing seven-months-old daughter on his hip, coughed sternly.

“Alright, Hale-Stilinskis, my baby could come up with better name suggestions and she can’t even talk yet. We have _three_ names to choose here, one for Baby A and a boy and girl name for Baby B, so I want to see some improvement in your efforts!”

Stiles held up his hands defensively.

“I was not the one who put those names in the box. Or the one who let the culprit watch that abomination in the first place! I put some pretty good names in this time, actually, you guys will _love_ them!”

“Pippilotta,” Scott read off the first slip out of Baby A’s box, looking at his best friend incredulously.

“Love is maybe too strong a word,” he said carefully, while Stiles turned to Leonie with a stern expression.

“No cheating Leo-Pie, we voted that down last time _and_ the time before that. You can’t keep re-submitting it, Daddy said no and Daddy means no.”

Leonie huffed.

“And I don’t want a little sister named Orchiday,” she countered and Stiles shook his head in resigned disapproval.

“Not Orchi _day_ , Orchidee … that’s pronounced Orshydae and I happen to think it’s a beautiful name for a beautiful baby!”

“Did you make that name up?” Scott asked with a frown and Derek chuckled.

“Stiles watched a late-night talk-show segment about flowers and for some reason they had a German guest who kept pronouncing ‘Orchid’ the way the Germans do. He woke me up at 2 in the morning to tell me that popular culture had lied to us all these years and that German was actually a gentle, melodic language that caresses you with every syllable. So I spoke some German to him during a … gentle caress and proved him wrong,” he said, casting a quick glance at his children before breaking into a smug grin.

Stiles winced.

“I married an evil, _evil_ man, Scotty. Though I will admit he is kind of an evil genius considering that he can pronounce Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz in the throes of _gentle caresses_ without breaking his tongue in the process,” he said and Scott gaped at him for a moment before shaking his head, muttering “I don’t even want to know,” under his breath.

Half an hour later Leonie’s four suggestions – Pippilotta, Rollgardinia, Victualia, and Peppermint – had all been discarded for the same reason, despite Leonie’s claim that the names had absolutely nothing to do with each other and were in no way the full name of her favorite book heroine and Cas was playing with Jay-Jay, having lost interest in the naming of his baby-siblings after his fathers had ruled out _Teletubbie_ names.

Noah had suggested Sophie and Virginie, after the two main characters of his current favorite cartoon, an old French show Isaac had brought back on DVD from one of his trips to France one year.

While Sophie had actually made it on the board, joining Kayla (a Derek suggestion), Connor (courtesy of Stiles) and Milo (a name Derek personally still mostly associated with dogs but hadn’t found it in his heart to veto when Cas’ lips had begun to wobble dangerously and the rest of his family had given him evil looks), Derek and Stiles had tried to explain to Noah why a child would be tortured in school with the name Virginie as child-appropriately as possible, both of them glaring at a snickering Scott all the way through.

Noah had taken his partial defeat in stride, though Derek was pretty sure the fact that he was currently cradling Ellie in his thin but rather long arms had probably been a decisive factor in mollifying his son.

Noah had been too young to fully appreciate having a baby in the house when Cas had been born and Derek was looking forward to seeing him help with his baby-siblings, convinced that he would be a natural at it.

Satisfied that they had added at least one new name to the board, Scott was about to open Baby B’s name-box when his phone began to ring and both Stiles and Derek winced in sympathy when Scott’s face turned from mildly curious to downright pained as he listened to Chris’ exasperated pleas to free him from the werewolf terror that had befallen his house.

He had volunteered to babysit his grandsons while Scott was at Stiles and Derek’s house and Allison was enjoying a girls’day and girl’s night out with Lydia, Erica, and Cora and he was obviously coming to regret that decision.

“My sons broke a really old statue of a hunter, which has been in the family for generations. I’d be proud that they don’t submit to hunters even at this age, but I also think that Chris thinks I set them up to destroy his house on purpose and I think I need to get over there right now and wave my pink-clad baby-girl in front of his face so he’ll get fond flashbacks to when Allison was little, dissolve in a puddle of goo, and stop being mad at _me_ , just because he can’t be mad at the kids,” Scott rushed out apologetically once he had ended the phone call, his expression stressed as he held out his arms for Ellie.

“Dada!” Ellie babbled happily, grinning at her father as he settled her in his arms and Scott’s stressed expression morphed into the biggest, dopiest smile he was capable of.

“Did you hear that? She said _dada_ , right? I’m not imagining things, it was _dada_ , right?!” Scott exclaimed and Stiles grinned, throwing one arm around Scott’s shoulder and bending over so he could kiss his goddaughter’s nose, whispering “Good choice!” to her conspiratorially.

Derek shook his head with a smile when Scott pulled out his phone again, hit Allison’s speed-dial number and didn’t even wait for her to say hello before he yelled “Dada! She said Dada first! You might have succeeded with all of our boys, but I _finally_ won!” into the phone.

Stiles waited until his best friend had proudly strutted towards his car and pulled away from the house before turning to Derek, who had joined him on the porch with a glass of mango-juice.

“He’s going to be smug about this forever, won’t he?” he asked with a grin and Derek shook his head with a soft laugh.

“Says the man who called all of our friends and family when Noah came really close to saying, “I love you Daddy” for the first time.”

Stiles smiled fondly, remembering that memorable moment.

“It was a majestic moment, I was right to share it with my pack … could I have waited five more hours so it wouldn’t have been at 3 AM? Yes, probably, but I wanted them to hear the authentic enthusiasm in my voice,” he replied and Derek kissed his nose, grinning apologetically when Stiles wrinkled his nostrils at the feeling of the sticky mango-juice on Derek’s lips.

“I’m pretty sure getting authentically enthusiastic will never be one of your shortcomings,” he said earnestly and Stiles laughed.

“Indeed it will not. Now, how about we put the kiddos to bed and then I’ll enthusiastically Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz the heck out of you?“ he said, winking suggestively and lowering his voice to a sultry timbre and Derek snorted.

“You do realize that means “law for the delegation of monitoring beef labelling“ and can therefore not be used as a verb, right?“ he asked and Stiles winked again.

“Who am I to judge what gets you all hot and bothered in the linguistic department. In fact, how about we go upstairs right now and I’ll ravish you without Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel, since, you know, I already put some babies in you and we don’t really need contraceptives anymore,“ he declared and Derek decided to silence him with a kiss.

He had his kinky wolf moments, but German dirty talk was certainly not one of them.

 

====================

 

When Derek entered his third trimester soon after, both he and Stiles were ready for the pregnancy to just be over already, albeit for two very different reasons.

Derek’s reason had a lot to do with utter mortification – he was leaking. A lot.

If this pregnancy went by the established rules he still had about one to two weeks to go before the emergence of the temporary breasts that he would feed the babies with, so it wasn’t that kind of leakage.

Instead, it was located down south.

The first time it had happened they had been lying in bed, Stiles had told him a story of what Noah, after perusing the covers of some magazines at the checkout, had blurted out at the supermarket that day (“Daddy? What is physical love? Is it about Einstein? Because he loved physics!”) and Derek had … peed the bed.

While laughing.

He had not been able to remember ever having been so mortified in his life.

Stiles had changed the sheets without a comment while Derek had changes his pajama bottoms and had sheepishly held out his phone to his grumpy, red-faced mate when he had returned to bed, bookmarked to a website listing common pregnancy side-effects.

If it had happened once, Derek might have been able to forget about it, but it seemed that once the floodgates had opened, closing them was no longer an option.

Yes, he was being dramatic, it certainly wasn’t a flood of pee, but it was definitely enough to force him to change his pants far more often than he would have liked these days.

Which was a rather big inconvenience since he really didn’t own many pants that still fit him to begin with.

The next instance of “Look guys, Papa peed in his pants, isn’t that hilarious!” had been at dinner two days later, when Leonie had accidentally knocked over the peppershaker, sending all three werewolves into uncontrollable sneezing-fits.

The third time Derek had just lightly coughed to get Stiles’ attention.

The fourth time he had tried to lift up Cas into a bear hug and the strain had obviously been too much.

Cas had moped a bit when Derek had informed his youngest that lifting him up and carrying him around was off limits until the babies were born, but his son, who had hated diapers with a passion and had spent most of his toddler years running around butt-naked – would, in fact, still prefer to run around naked if he had been allowed – had agreed that diapers were not normal for Papas.

Leonie had offered him a carton of the maxi-pads Stiles had bought in bulk (Derek was pretty sure his mate’s panic purchase would last their oldest all the way through High School) with a very Stiles-like sheepish expression but had otherwise refrained from commenting.

Noah was oblivious to it half of the time and Stiles – had quickly learned that a wrong glance during these moments led to upset crying, which led to more leaking and just helped nobody.

While Derek’s longing for the pregnancy to be over thus had a lot do with the desire to regain control over his bladder – and finally hold his babies, of course – Stiles was counting the days to his mate’s due date for quite another reason: he finally wanted to have a good night’s sleep again.

Yes, a good night’s sleep was probably not in the cards for quite a while, at least if the babies took after their werewolf siblings, but at least there would be some intervals of quiet every now and then.

These days, Stiles felt as if he was sleeping next to a chain saw and if he hadn’t loved the chain saw so much he would have sought refuge in the living room weeks ago.

Derek had never been a snorer, had occasionally snored lightly while pregnant with their older children, but this was beyond anything Stiles had ever heard.

Even if he did manage to fall asleep Derek would stop snoring for two seconds, leading Stiles to jerk awake and freak out about the silence, before he would start again, even louder than before.

Stiles had no idea how the children were able to sleep through it when he felt as if the sound was drilling nails into the inside of his skull and Derek had been quite oblivious to it for over a week before he had noticed the deep bags under his mate’s eyes and had confronted him about it.

It really wasn’t anything he could change and Stiles had tried to laugh it off, but the snoring had just gotten worse and Derek had finally snapped, telling him to just sleep on the couch if he really wanted to.

Stiles, however, knew that ever since their mating Derek hadn’t been able to get a restful sleep when he was alone, especially during pregnancy, and he had lasted for half of a night before he had crawled back into their bed, feeling like a shameful deserter.

He had gone and bought earplugs the next day, hoping they’d help at least a little. 

They hadn’t.

He had also looked at soundproofing spells but then discarded the idea, since he would have had to put the spell on Derek himself and he was not keen to find out what kind of mischief magic would do to his pregnant mate’s body.

Karma, however, had apparently decided to punish him for even thinking about hexing his beloved mate for the sake of nightly peace, as Stiles found out about a week later.

It was a life-lesson that would amuse a lot of people.

Stiles and Derek were not one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to apologize to any devoted fan of the Teletubbies and the Twilight universe. While I gleefully made fun of them in this chapter, I do say all the power to you if your taste is different than mine! 
> 
> If your or your child's name is Milo, please know that I think it is a beautiful name ... it's just that I met a lot of dog Milos before I ever met a human one. First impressions are hard to shake and all that ;-). 
> 
> I would also like to apologize to any lover of the German language (which I think I have mentioned just happens to be my own native language) - I make fun of it very lovingly, I assure you ... but one has to admit that we are a nation of Compound Noun-Addicts. 
> 
> If you want to read more about the delight that is Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz (complete with a soundbite how it is pronounced), here is a helpful link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/10095976/Germany-drops-its-longest-word-Rindfleischeti....html
> 
> Lastly, I would like to credit the Einstein loved Physics-line to a very awesome 8-year old little girl, who legitimately said this out of the blue one day and had her parents collapse in hysterical laughter.
> 
> Next up: There be witches and mayhem. But not of the angsty kind.
> 
> Oh and btw: My October-Real Life will be insanely busy, so I don't know if I can pull off weekly postings, but there'll be updates so please don't think I'm abandoning the story (it's seriously taking me forever to decide on the twins' names, I shall not have invested all that thought into naming fictional babies for nothing... seriously, if I ever have actual kids naming them is going to be a piece of cake)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote half of this chapter back in July while I was still working on "The Rule of Three", so I'm really excited to finally get to share it with you guys! I have always liked body-swap fics. And I am quite stoked that it coincidentally happens to be chapter 13 ;-).

_July 17 th (30 Weeks)_

“Never piss off a witch” was a very good rule to live by. Was – in fact – an excellent rule to make sure that one’s life wasn’t suddenly turned upside down by powerful, ancient magic.

“Never piss off a _pregnant_ witch,” was an even better rule and in the middle of Derek’s eighth month of pregnancy, Derek and Stiles found out just how important it was to observe this one, tiny principle.

It had begun harmlessly, as many crises in Beacon Hills began, when, during an impromptu barbecue party in Scott and Allison’s backyard, a coven of witches, who had smelled the barbecue and the presence of a bunch of werewolves, had decided to stop by for a chat.

The four women and one man, Derek had soon discovered, were travelling through town on their way to a convention of some sort and had been taking a leisurely walk when their senses had alerted them to the presence of other supernatural creatures.

As far as witches went they were quite nice and as the youngest two had entertained the children with harmless little tricks involving water fountains and ice-sculptures, Derek had gotten into a conversation with the woman who was apparently second-in-command, a beautiful witch in her late thirties who was five months pregnant with her first child.

The witch – Seraphina – had been fascinated by the workings of male werewolf pregnancy and Derek had not seen any reason not to share his experiences, including the HG complications. Seraphina had hugged her tiny belly protectively, the look of relief evident on her face when she had talked about fail-safe herbs that could cure morning sickness permanently.

Derek, who wished he had known about these supposedly fail-safe herbs sooner, smiled politely and he was about to ask her if she knew what she was having when Stiles marched over and plopped down on the chair next to Derek, hand immediately going to the top of the bump in what Derek could only assume meant an aggressive display of Stiles-posturing.

He suddenly remembered that Stiles really hated witches and _really_ hoped his mate was not about to royally put his foot in his mouth.

“Are you sure you’re comfortable? You’ve been sitting in this chair for more than an hour and I don’t want you to hurt your back again,” Stiles informed him and Derek shrugged.

“I’m perfectly fine, we were actually having a really interesting discussion,” he responded and Stiles eyed Seraphina suspiciously.

“Don’t you want to eat something? It’s been at least half an hour since you ate?” he said and Derek rolled his eyes.

“Don’t worry Stiles, me and the kiddos are perfectly fine,” he said, eager to turn back to his conversation and not in the mood for a resurgence of aggressively over-protective Stiles at all.

“I would really feel better if you drank something at least, your glass is nearly empty,” Stiles continued and Derek sighed.

“Will you go get me something?” he asked and Stiles grabbed the glass and walked over to the food table, throwing one last worried glance over his shoulder.

“Your mate seems to believe I’m about to turn the children inside of you into frogs or something of the sort,” Seraphina observed with a frown and Derek shrugged.

“Don’t take it personally, we had two rather traumatic scares with my two last pregnancies right around this time and I think he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop,” Derek explained, smiling at Stiles when he came back and handed Derek the glass.

While he took a sip Stiles crouched down to inspect the chair and Derek groaned when he suddenly yelled “Ha!” in alarm.

“What now?” he asked and Stiles looked up frantically.

“There’s a crack in the wood, right where you’re sitting!” he exclaimed and Derek, who thought that the chair was perfectly fine, looked at him uncomprehendingly.

“Yes Stiles? And that means?” he asked and Stiles shot up and actually tried to drag Derek to his feet.

“You can’t sit on this chair, it will give out under you and you’ll fall to the ground and hurt yourself and the babies! Or you’ll go into labor and they are definitely _not_ ready yet!” Stiles said urgently and Derek planted his feet on the ground to resist his mate’s pull, growing more annoyed by the second.

“I have been sitting in this chair for an hour and nothing has happened! I’m fine, now can I please finish my conversation?” he asked sharply and Stiles shook his head.

“Thank god nothing has happened yet, Derek, I know you trust your reflexes, but this crack is very big and you are really heavy right now and one wrong move could …”

“Did he just call you fat?” Seraphina interrupted him, her eyes flashing dangerously and Derek’s eyes widened, half in annoyance and half in baffled amusement.

“I believe he did,” he said slowly, turning towards Stiles, who looked even more frantic all of a sudden.

“I did no such thing! I just don’t want you to break this chair because you’ve forgotten that you’re carrying our two babies!” Stiles defended himself, the expression on his face suggesting that he was well aware he was just making it worse.

“Why you insolent …” Seraphina began darkly, only to be interrupted by the coven leader, who had apparently sensed the magical build-up around her second-in-command.

“Seraphina! We talked about this. Hormonal control is essential for a witch!” she said quickly, placing a calming hand on the younger woman’s shoulder and turning to Derek and Stiles with a polite smile.

Seraphina was muttering what sounded like ancient curse words under her breath and for a moment Derek thought he felt a slight tingling below his navel, but the sensation was gone as soon as it had come and he glanced back at Stiles, who was looking at the two witches in slight fear.

“I’m afraid we must be going now!” the coven leader said suddenly, her expression decidedly pinched when she looked at the younger witch.

“I apologize for the inconvenience and please know that a week is really not that long at all,” she continued quickly, glancing at Stiles and Derek in an almost apologetic way before she firmly steered the younger woman away.

“What was that all about?” Scott asked when he came closer, holding a plate of steaks he had just grilled for his guests and looking very confused that he no longer had any guests that weren’t in his pack.

“Stiles called me fat and pissed off a witch,” Derek summarized and Stiles sputtered.

“I did no such thing, I just don’t want you to fall to your death on this chair!” he huffed and Scott suddenly dropped the plate with the steaks, rushing over to Derek and hoisting him off the chair as if he weighed nothing.

“Oh my god Derek, I’m _so_ sorry, that chair was meant to be in the shed because I haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet, thank god it didn’t fall apart under you, the children were jumping around on it and there are cracks running throughout the entire frame!”

“I _knew_ it!” Stiles almost cackled triumphantly and when Derek inspected the damage he winced, able to imagine how unpleasant a fall from this chair would have been had he made a wrong move.

“Do you still think I called you fat?” Stiles asked, voice gone soft when he framed Derek’s belly with both hands and looked at his mate with loving eyes.

“I forgive you,” Derek responded and Scott shook his head with a soft smile, muttering “You big saps,” under his breath when he walked back to his abandoned barbecue grill.

 

==============

 

When Derek woke up the next morning he felt – a lot more energetic than he had in a long while. Decidedly restless, in fact. It was a good thing, he had quite a lot of things to do today, having to finish up a couple of articles before he took a longer break after the twins’ birth among them, and he stretched contentedly, hand automatically going to his round belly to stroke it gently and encountering – nothing.

Well, it wasn’t _nothing_ , per se, it was just – not a belly. Well, it was a belly, but it was a tiny one and when he pushed his hand down he wasn’t met by hard resistance but softness.

He froze, training his ears on the babies’ heartbeats and – hearing nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

The only thing he heard, in fact, was Stiles’ rather loud snoring, which was decidedly odd since his mate didn’t snore normally.

His eyes flew open and he shot up into a half-sitting position, looking down at his belly in horror.

It wasn’t that it was a strange belly – he was, in fact, very familiar with this belly – but it was paler than his own, had freckles where it wasn’t supposed to have freckles, was much less hairy and decidedly – and he couldn’t stress that point enough – less pregnant.

He scrambled up and out of the bed, breath coming in frantic gasps and on the other side of the bed Stiles groaned, still half asleep apparently.

He was hidden under the covers but his shape was all wrong, much bigger and bulkier than normal and Derek rubbed his face – only to discover that he no longer had a beard either, confirming the theory that had grown in his increasingly panicked mind.

“Stiles!” he almost screamed and the big lump under the covers jerked awake and sat up.

Well, it tried to sit up, but was hindered in its efforts by an eight-months pregnant twin belly that it was obviously not used to.

Derek closed his eyes in a mixture of horror and resignation when Stiles threw the covers off and stared down at his – Derek’s – belly in horror, hands pushing into it and prodding as if he thought it would disappear if he just poked it enough.

“Derek!” he meeped and Derek hadn’t even known he could make such a high-pitched sound.

“Witches! Damn witches!” he all but exploded and Stiles, who was still struggling to get up to fully take in the damage, flopped back onto the bed with a groan – only to moan when the movement made his back clench.

“Ouch! That hurt!” he yelped, struggling once again to get into a seated position and Derek tried really hard to breathe normally when he walked to the other side of the bed and pulled his mate into a sitting position, feeling a little sheepish at the effort it took.

 “So, it seems that Seraphina made us switch bodies?” he said slowly and Stiles snorted.

“You think?! This is … Derek … I can’t do this!” he said, desperation creeping into his voice when he tried to stand up and failed.

“I can’t even get up from the bed, I can’t be responsible for carrying our children! What did the older one say yesterday? A week isn’t all that long? Derek, I can’t do this for a _week_!” he squeaked and Derek, who also hadn’t known he could squeak like that, shook his head.

“First of all, we are definitely going to find a way to reverse this as quickly as possible and secondly, I’ve done it four times now for almost 40 weeks at a time, you’ll be able to bear it for one day!” he said, trying to sound encouraging but aware that it was probably coming out a bit on the snarky side.

Well, he currentlyinhabited his mate’s body after all.

“Derek? I need to pee!” Stiles suddenly whispered and Derek, who had just decided that he needed to see the humor in this situation without going insane with worry over both his mate, who had no clue what he was doing, and his children, who were currently being carried by a person who had no clue what he was doing, sighed deeply before he flexed his muscles and hauled Stiles to his feet.

Stiles flashed him a fearful look as he began to walk to the bathroom – and promptly stumbled, almost face-planting himself.

Derek’s heart shot up into his throat when he lurched forward, barely catching Stiles and pulling him back into a standing position.

His back gave out an angry twitch and he was almost sure he had pulled a muscle but at least Stiles hadn’t just squished the children into the ground and probably seriously hurt himself while he was at it.

“Careful! _I_ sometimes have problems with my center of gravity and I’m used to it!” he barked in alarm and Stiles groaned.

“Peeeeee!” he gasped and Derek grabbed his elbow as he steered him to the bathroom, where Stiles stood in front of the toilet with a lost expression on his face.

“Don’t pee in my underwear, just do it already!” Derek huffed and Stiles looked at him in desperation.

“How can I pee when I can’t see my penis – your penis – doesn’t matter, _any_ penis!” he all but wailed and Derek felt a headache forming between his temples as he inhaled deeply.

“Just grab it and aim, like normal!” he said and Stiles made a blind grab before he let his arms hang down again, looking at Derek with a pitiful expression.

“I can’t reach,” he whimpered and Derek made an exasperated sound.

“Oh for heaven’s sake!” he barked, pulling Stiles’ boxers down and trying really hard not to think about the weirdness of it all – or just how much he loved his mate to even think about doing this – when he used Stiles’ hand to grab his own, familiar penis.

Stiles was standing stock-still next to him and Derek raised his eyebrows.

“Today?” he asked and Stiles shook his head ruefully.

“Performance anxiety,” he whispered and Derek couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.

“Alright. Give me your hand, don’t think about it,” he said as gently as he possibly could and when Stiles hesitantly held out his hand he grabbed it, replacing his own hand with his own hand – yes, the headache was definitely getting worse – and when he was certain that Stiles wasn’t going to spray all over the tiles he walked back outside, collapsing onto the bed in disbelief.

It felt nice to just be able to do that, despite all of the concern and weirdness and Derek wondered if this spell had been part curse, part blessing from Seraphina, to give Stiles an idea of what it was like to be pregnant and give _him_ a week-long rest from the strain of carrying the twins.

He sat back up – singing delightedly in his head at how easy it was – and waited for Stiles to come back out.

The tinkling sounds had stopped but Stiles wasn’t emerging and Derek’s onset of good mood disappeared as rapidly as it had come.

“Stiles?” he asked worriedly and there was a sniffle from the bathroom.

“Help?” his mate asked quietly and when Derek walked back into the bathroom Stiles was standing in the middle of the room, boxers still pooled at his ankles and with a very upset expression on his face.

“I can’t bend over to pull up my boxers,” he sniffled and this time Derek didn’t laugh when he quickly bent down and pulled the boxers up, looking at Stiles with compassion in his face when his mate’s lips began to tremble.

“I shouldn’t be crying about this, why am I crying Derek?” he asked as the tears began to flow and Derek sighed compassionately.

“It’s the hormones, Stiles,” he explained, wrapping his arms around Stiles as far as they would go and pulling him closer.

It felt extremely weird to have his large, solid belly pressed against Stiles’ body and Derek hoped the children would stay quiet for a bit longer, figuring that Stiles had had enough shocks within the past five minutes.

“I don’t think I can do this for a week Derek, I can’t even walk two steps without almost crushing our babies to death, what if I kill them accidentally!” he sobbed and Derek rubbed his back comfortingly, using motions that he knew felt good on his strained muscles.

They were still wrapped in each other’s arms when the door opened and Leonie and Noah poked their heads in, followed by a very sleepy Cas.

“Daddy? Why is Papa crying?” Noah asked worriedly and Leonie walked over quickly, patting Stiles’ back comfortingly.

“Papa? Why are you dressed as Daddy?” Cas asked sleepily and both fathers looked at their youngest in shock.

“How did he know Derek?” Stiles whispered and Derek shrugged in wonderment, wincing when Leonie suddenly recoiled from Stiles and looked at her fathers in horror.

“Daddy! Papa! This is … _not_ right!” she exclaimed and Derek put a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Daddy made a witch mad yesterday. We need to figure out how to reverse this so as soon as we are all dressed we are dropping you off at Uncle Scott’s and Daddy and I are going to see Uncle Alan,” he explained and Leonie nodded, her eyes wide as saucers.

“Can you make sure Cas and Noah are ready? I need to help Daddy out, this is all a little weird for him right now,” Derek explained to all children and when they were gone Stiles looked at him with a curious, if still freaked out expression.

“Her heart-rate skyrocketed when she realized it. It was … alarming. How do you not flinch every time that happens?” he asked and Derek shook his head fondly.

“I do flinch every time one of you panics or is in pain,” he said softly and Stiles placed both hands on his belly, expression turning from fear to wonder.

“I can hear their heartbeats. They are really fast, but steady. I think they’re ok. You’re a little freaked out, but you’re ok as well, and so are the kids. This is incredible! I can take one whiff and I know how everyone in my family is doing,” Stiles mumbled, his hands roaming along the vast expanse of his belly.

“They are so heavy, no wonder you keep talking about back pain,” he muttered, eyes going wide when he looked back up at Derek.

“What do I do if they start moving? Will it hurt? What if …” Derek, who didn’t want his mate to have a panic-attack in his heavily pregnant body, leaned forward and kissed him softly, using Stiles’ long, dexterous fingers to stroke his face and once again ignoring how weird it was that he was essentially kissing himself.

“You’ll be fine. We’ll find a way to fix this and by this evening you’ll be back to normal and I’ll be the one muttering about back pain,” he said and Stiles uttered a shaky laugh.

“God I hope so. I know I always said I wanted to be able to hear the babies’ heartbeats, but this is not what I had in mind at all.”

 

==================

 

“What do you mean, you can’t reverse it!” Stiles and Derek yelled simultaneously, and Deaton shrugged in apology.

“I had a very interesting chat with a coven leader last night, who popped in for a night-cap between colleagues and apologized that her hormonal second-in-command lost her control and put a body-swap curse on you.”

He smiled.

“She was very nice, I actually got her number. I could call her to see if she found another way to reverse it, but we went over the books all night and there is simply no way. You will have to wait it out, I’m afraid. On the plus side, it only lasts a week, so by next Sunday the two of you will be back to normal,” Deaton explained and Derek growled.

“And you didn’t think of calling us to, I don’t know, _warn_ us that this was going to happen?” he barked, eyebrows shooting up in disbelief and glare turning almost murderous when Deaton muttered something about nice green eyes, long conversations under the stars, and phone numbers.

Stiles flailed his hands frantically, which looked kind of awkward in Derek’s body.

“I don’t think you understand how serious this is! I could kill the babies!” he yelped and Deaton shook his head.

“I am confident that Derek, who will call in to your work and say that you are sick and can’t come in for a week, will do everything in his power to make sure that nothing happens to either you or the children.”

“What? But I have to go to work, we have a campaign that …”

Derek placed a finger on his lips to silence him.

“First of all, I don’t really think you want me calling the shots on your new campaign. I have no idea what I’m doing and furthermore I _hated_ the new candy demo version if you recall. Besides, you’d be mad to think I’d leave you alone like this for even a second!” Derek said and Stiles tensed.

“Why? What could happen? Are there pregnancy horrors that you haven’t told me about yet? Oh my god, what if I go into labor! I can’t give birth to the children! I’ll die!”

Derek flinched.

“The birth canal hasn’t formed yet and besides, you are not going into labor, I refuse to have you go through that,” he said sternly and Stiles huffed.

“Now you make me sound like the biggest jerk in the world! You can’t bear to see me in pain while I happily knock you up every three to five years and then hand out cigars while you puke your guts out for months and then go through excruciating agony to push out my babies? Thank you Derek, I appreciate it!”

“That was not what I meant!” Derek growled and Scott, who had hovered quietly in the background with a serious expression on his face, laughed.

“Sorry Stiles, but that was the cutest growl I have ever heard in my life and that includes the ones my boys used to make when they were tiny. Your body really can’t pull it off,” he snickered and both men shot him an angry glare.

“You wait until Allison ends up knocking you up on accident after all!” Stiles muttered darkly and Scott shook his head.

“Nope, our family is definitely complete,” he said and Derek rolled his eyes.

Unexpected pregnancies were of course not a thing that happened to True Alphas.

“Well, are you in any pain right now?” Deaton asked, not acknowledging the glare-stand-off between the three men and Stiles groaned.

“You should better ask me what part of my body doesn’t hurt! Spoiler alert – everything hurts! My back hurts because it’s trying to carry a massive beach ball filled with lead, my feet didn’t even fit into Derek’s shoes this morning because they are so swollen, my skin is itchy and stretched all over, my ears hurt because everything is so freaking loud, my eyes hurt because I’m not used to having supernatural vision, and I’m not even going to start talking about the fact that 30 weeks is when the breasts appear normally! Yes, not even thinking about this. At all. Nope! Also, I think I should probably drink something because I think I’m getting dehydrated,” he moaned, smiling weakly when Derek and Scott both jumped into action immediately.

“You’re a heavily pregnant male werewolf, in other words,” Deaton summarized and Stiles nodded weakly.

“Just be glad I’m over the HG,” Derek said quietly when he began to massage Stiles’ lower back and his mate paled, hands going to his belly immediately.

“Holy crap I didn’t even think of that!” he whispered and Derek snorted.

“Just be glad,” he repeated.

“I know I’m – _holy crap!_ OUCH!” Stiles suddenly yelled, his lower back tensing as if he was having a contraction, and Derek blanched.

“Don’t tell me you are having Braxton Hicks, please don’t have Braxton Hicks!” he begged and Stiles gave him a terrified look.

“I think I just cracked a rib! And ruptured a kidney!” he gasped and when Derek looked at his belly he could clearly see the movements of their babies.

They were obviously able to sense Stiles’ distress and when Derek placed his hand on the bump he couldn’t help but marvel at the feeling.

He had always wondered what it would feel like from the outside – and even though Stiles still looked like he was about to faint he was certain he could detect the tiny beginning of a smile on his face.

“They are moving!” he exclaimed.

“Both of them,” Derek confirmed, pulling Stiles’ shirt up and pressing both of his hands against the taut skin.

“Don’t just gawk, help,” he said gently and Stiles lowered his hands again, resting one against the top of his belly and the other joining Derek’s and rubbing circles.

“It feels amazing – but I do think I just ruptured an organ,” he finally decided and Derek shook his head fondly.

“You’re fine. And so are the babies. It’s just one week. We can do this.”

Stiles smiled shakily.

“We can do this,” he confirmed, before letting out another yelp when a foot suddenly stuck out right next to his navel.

“You can’t scream every time they kick, I’ll have a heart attack and I’d rather not have it in _your_ body when I can’t heal,” Derek chided him and Stiles groaned.

“Welcome to my life!” he huffed and Derek laughed.

“No my love – welcome to _mine_.”

 

===============

 

In the next couple of days Stiles took to pregnancy like a whale took to being helplessly stranded on the beach and Derek was ready to strangle him after the second day.

Stiles was _whining_.

In frequencies that Derek hadn’t even known his vocal cords could reach.

Yes, it wasn’t fun to have to go to the bathroom every hour, yes, it was uncomfortable to move around with a heavy belly dragging you down and messing with your center of gravity, yes the aches and pains were annoying, and yes, Derek knew what it was like to toss for hours without finding a comfortable position to sleep but he was quickly reaching a point of zero tolerance for Stiles’ complaints.

“You were whiny too when you were pregnant with Leonie and had no clue what was going on!” Stiles accused him when he unsuccessfully tried to stifle a groan at having to pull him up to his feet yet again – seriously, Stiles wasn’t even trying – and Derek snorted.

“Yes, I complained some, but at least I shut up every now and then!” he grunted.

“ _Twins_ , Derek! Twins! My first pregnancy experience is being _eight_ months pregnant with _twins_!” Stiles yelled, sounding wounded, and Derek softened his expression immediately.

He was being a jerk, he realized that, but his nerves were just as frayed as Stiles’, albeit for different reasons.

Stiles was too focused on all the pregnancy symptoms to really appreciate his new, temporary werewolf senses, but Derek was at an absolute loss as to what to do without them.

He couldn’t hear any of his children’s or his mate’s heartbeat, he had no way of knowing if all of them were ok, could barely pick up on their familiar scents – as soon as Stiles was back in his own body Derek would force him to go to a doctor because it couldn’t be normal to have such a minimal sense of smell – and his movements were uncoordinated.

Also, he was quite sure that his beloved mate probably needed glasses and having to squint all the time was giving him a headache.

Derek was also extremely worried about Stiles, terrified of what could happen within the next five days.

He didn’t want Stiles to go through Braxton Hicks contractions, or – god forbid – real contractions, and his agitated state was not helping one bit.

Stiles seemed to constantly be on the verge of a panic attack, flinching every single time the babies moved and Derek didn’t even have to touch his lower back to know that all of his muscles were in knots right now.

And still, it was no excuse for snapping at him, a firm voice that sounded just like his mother spoke up in the back of his head and Derek rubbed his eyes in frustration before chasing after his upset mate, who had meanwhile waddled into the kitchen and was currently eating peanut-butter ice-cream topped with a generous helping of raspberry jelly.

“Stiles? I’m sorry,” Derek said softly and Stiles’ head shot up, hurt tears pooling in his eyes.

“You have to let me complain Derek! I know it’s driving you up the wall and believe me, I know what it’s like to see your pregnant mate be in discomfort, I’m not stupid, I can tell how unsettling this is for you, but if I can’t vent I’m afraid I’m going to really lose it here and that’s _so_ not going to be good for the kids and I just … you have to let me whine, okay?”

Derek hesitantly stepped forward and when Stiles didn’t flinch away from him he snaked one arm around his mate’s waist, holding on to his shoulder tightly as his head dropped into the crook of Stiles’ neck.

“I’m sorry. I …”

“You have no idea how to human properly, do you?” Stiles said gently, his voice still a little watery and Derek snorted weakly.

“To human … is that a verb?” he asked and Stiles shrugged.

“Can you think of a better one? You’re currently using my brain, I’m sure there’s something in there,” he muttered and Derek smiled into his skin, exhaling deeply.

“Pretty sure the parts of your brain that count travelled all the way over here,” he said, lifting his right hand to stroke Stiles’ temple softly.

“Kiss me Sour Human?” Stiles asked and Derek did, studiously ignoring how weird it still felt to essentially kiss himself.

Stiles tasted like peanut butter, raspberry, and something sharp that the werewolf wasn’t quite able to identify, and as the kiss became more heated Derek vowed to himself to be a little better about the shaving. He had never really experienced carpet burn before, but this was probably what it was like and he definitely did not appreciate the sensation in his face.

Suddenly a sharp flash of pain made him flinch and when they broke apart Stiles’ fangs were proudly on display.

It would have been intimidating if his face hadn’t been set in Stiles’ best deer-caught-in-headlights expression.

“Sorry about that. I got … excited,” he mumbled, gingerly tapping against the incisors with his finger.

“How do you even manage to talk so I can understand you when you are all wolfed out? This is rather unpleasant,” he complained and Derek laughed, his fingers tracing over Stiles’ lip as the fangs began to retract.

“My parents always got on to me when I mumbled my words while shifted. It made an impression,” he explained and Stiles grinned.

“Are you pulling my leg?” he asked and Derek smirked.

“Maybe? I’m pulling your ice-cream away from you right now though, Melissa reprimanded me for the sweets intake just last week and if I can’t have three bowls of ice-cream a day you definitely cannot have five,” he said, removing the bowl from Stiles’ hands and swallowing a large spoonful right after.

“What the _hell_?” he gasped five minutes later, finally feeling ready to remove his head from under the faucet without being in danger of throwing up as he glared at Stiles accusatorily.

His mate looked decidedly unapologetic when he waved a bottle of spicy mustard in front of his face.

“It’s your own fault for stealing my delicious snack in my time of need,” he said and for a moment they just stared at each other, Derek still looking decidedly green and Stiles’ expression slowly turning from amusement to compassion.

“That bad?” he asked and Derek sighed, pulling Stiles towards him and once again resting his face in the crook of his neck.

“Our children are crazy … and _you_ will go see an ENT as soon as you’re back in your own body,” he muttered, continuing his unsuccessful attempt to scent his mate.

Stiles patted his back comfortingly.

“It’s not as if we were keeping score or anything, but if we were I guess I could concede this point to you.”

 

================

 

“I take it back! We are keeping score here and I’m winning! I’m winning so badly you just have no idea how much I’m winning here! Derek Infuriating-Love-of-my-Life Hale, _why_ is this the first I hear about the fact that brushing teeth while pregnant regularly turns into a _bloodbath_?!”

Derek looked up from his page in the book he was currently reading – or rather, squinting at, Stiles was going to get glasses, no matter what his beloved human had to say on the subject – and guilty met his mate’s infuriated gaze.

“It … doesn’t happen all the time? And I heal almost immediately, so it’s not that bad?” he tried and Stiles huffed.

“Not that bad? The sink is splattered with blood! I’m not even kidding, it’s like _The Evil Dead_ in there, only it’s actually _The Evil Hormones_ , because I remember reading about this in _What to Expect When You’re Expecting_ and I remember thinking ‘Wow, I’m certainly glad my most beloved mate doesn’t have to endure that as well, it sounds really uncomfortable and gross and if he was I’m sure he’d tell me because he knows I’m sort of interested in whether he is bleeding anywhere because I love him and don’t like seeing him in agony!’ … in fact, I was thinking that just last week! Silly me, right?!” he hissed and Derek rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be so dramatic! It’s not a bloodbath and there’s no agony involved, it’s just a little inconvenient,” he tried, but Stiles was apparently on a roll.

“While we’re on the subject – your back aches constantly! That means all the time by the way, and I really would like to know why you keep pretending you’re fine! This is not fine, this is miserable! And did you know I got heartburn from a banana the other day? A banana! That’s basically baby food waiting to be pureed; one should not get heartburn from that! You guys already had the intervention, ok? I’m not going to go all crazy protective over you again but damn it Derek, if you’re not feeling good I want to know!”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest.

“You spent almost four months worrying yourself sick about me because I was completely unable to function Stiles – I don’t particularly enjoy the aches and pains but they are minimal compared to all that, alright? I’m not going to complain about something I can’t change when I know it could be much worse!”

Stiles shook his head as he walked over to the bed and slowly sat down on his side, fixing Derek with a frustrated glare.

“I know that suffering in silence is your thing but I really wish you wouldn’t. I love you Derek, but I’m not omnipotent. You are able to tell if I’m in pain by taking one subtle sniff, heck, you can even smell when I’m sad. I can’t do all of these things and therefore I need you to be honest with me. When you’re not ok _I’m_ not ok and it’s unfair of you to keep things like this from me!”

When Derek didn’t respond Stiles sighed, moving over on the bed so he could gently tip up Derek’s face and look into his eyes.

“It’s you and me against the world Sour Wolf, you’re not doing any of this alone. Please don’t forget that,” he whispered and Derek finally nodded, reaching out to grasp Stiles’ hand firmly in his.

“I’ll try,” he promised and Stiles smiled gently.

“How hard?” he asked and Derek swallowed.

“Very hard, I promise.”

Stiles nodded, leaning over slightly to capture Derek’s lips in a tender kiss.

When they separated Stiles was grinning sheepishly.

“You know what else is very hard right now?”

Derek groaned.

“Stiles … I’ve already told you it would be weird,” he grumbled and Stiles shrugged.

“Blame your stupid sex-crazed hormones … well, that and the fact that my body smells absolutely delectable apparently! I take great pride in that, by the way,” he decided and Derek chuckled.

“It’s a mate thing,” he said, grinning when Stiles playfully smacked his shoulder.

“You can’t even let me have that, can you?” he complained, moaning slightly when he readjusted himself.

“You honestly can’t tell me it hasn’t ever been a dream of yours to be able to give yourself a blowjob,” he muttered and Derek chuckled once again.

“I had that dream once and then I tried it. It was alright, but I like yours better,” he said and Stiles’ eyes widened almost comically.

“ _What_?” he exclaimed and Derek grinned.

“Flexible werewolf, remember? But I really do like yours better,” he said and Stiles’ flabbergasted expression shifted into another grin.

“Want me to see if I can do it with your mouth as well?” he grinned seductively and Derek – was actually rather curious as well.

It turned out to be one of the more enjoyable weird things he had ever done.

 

=================

 

Derek had barely gotten an hour of sleep two nights later when Stiles suddenly let out a pained gasp, waking him instantly.

“What’s wrong?” he exclaimed and the panic shining out of Stiles’ eyes was so uniquely Stiles that for a moment Derek actually saw his mate and not his own body, propped up against multiple pillows and hunched over his belly.

“I …” Stiles began helplessly, then groaned again as his entire body tensed.

“Contractions Derek – I think I’m having contractions!” he whispered, sounding absolutely terrified and in pain and Derek’s breath stuck in his throat for just a second before he sat up and gently grasped Stiles’ thighs.

“Hold still for a moment,” he instructed and Stiles tried to breathe through the pain as Derek carefully tugged his boxers down low enough to check if the birth canal had formed.

To his great relief, it had not.

“Braxton Hicks, Stiles. These are just Braxton Hicks,” he said softly and Stiles let out a breath that was more a sob than anything else.

“They hurt Derek,” he whimpered and Derek sighed compassionately.

“I know Stiles, I know.”

For the next two hours Derek sat behind his mate, kneading into Stiles’ tense muscles – Stiles’ muscles, his muscles, whatever – and massaging his sides, anything that felt tense.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Stiles asked during a pain-free phase and Derek kissed the shell of his ear.

“You do a pretty good job with it usually, I learned from the best. Also, I currently have your muscle-memory,” he explained and Stiles laughed, then whimpered when the pain got stronger again.

“It’s great to know I’m actually helping sometimes. I know you guys had to hold an intervention when you were carrying Leo-Pie but I was just so worried because I knew I couldn’t really do anything. It was little easier with Noah and Cas, but not by much.”

He leaned his head back against the crook of Derek’s neck and sighed deeply.

“This is really hard – it’s so much harder than you make it look and I’m so sorry I put you through this four times,” he whispered, back tensing once again and Derek kissed his head, wishing he could just take the pain away although he knew it wouldn’t have worked anyways.

“Going through a pregnancy from beginning to end is different than just being dumped into one at the very end – I could ease myself into it. And don’t be ridiculous, I put myself into this just as much and I don’t regret it. I didn’t even regret it during the peak of the HG and back then I regretted basically every single life choice I had ever made.”

Stiles sighed.

“If I never have to think or talk about these horrible months again, it will be too soon. Even if Aiden hadn’t told us we shouldn’t have a sixth child, I would have _never_ gotten you pregnant again.”

He uttered a soft laugh, interrupted by another pained moan.

“Noah and Cas are really lucky that you’re the one with the magical uterus. If I had been the one to carry our daughter there would _not_ have been a second child, let alone a _third_ child,” he grunted and Derek laughed.

“If I had had HG with Leonie, there probably wouldn’t have been subsequent pregnancies either,” he agreed, reaching his arm over Stiles’ waist and stroking the stretched skin fondly.

“I guess things worked out then after all?” Stiles mumbled and Derek smiled.

“They most definitely did.”

===================

 

The first thing Derek became aware of when he opened his eyes the next morning was the incredibly strong urge to pee.

The second thing he realized was that he couldn’t just hop out of bed to go and relieve himself, but that he had to carefully maneuver himself around his swollen abdomen to both get up and avoid peeing himself at the same time.

The third, and most important thing he realized was that he could not only feel their children inside of him, but also hear their heartbeats, as well as their father’s and older siblings’.

It was the most beautiful cacophony of sounds he had ever heard.

There was a startled squawk coming from the bedroom when Stiles woke up in his own body and by the time Derek was brushing his teeth his mate strode into the bathroom, wrapping his arms around his belly from behind and pressing his face into the crook of Derek’s neck.

“Thank god the babies are still there. At first I thought the witches had stolen them from us when I woke up!” he muttered and Derek shook his head, grimacing a little when he spat out a mixture of blood and toothpaste.

“Nope, babies are still here, resting comfortably on my bladder and causing my gums to bleed … as usual,” he reported and Stiles clucked his tongue, hands already digging into Derek’s lower back to massage the tension away.

“You don’t have to,” Derek protested but Stiles made a shushing sound, raising his eyebrows at him in the mirror.

“I was in your body a couple of hours ago, I doubt the muscle pain has magically gone away since then. I was seriously hurting when I went to bed so please don’t refuse my help when you need it my love, we’ve talked about this,” he argued and Derek sighed, leaning back against his mate and snuggling into the embrace.

“Seeing you like that was really hard for me,” he said, looking at Stiles sheepishly when the human snorted.

“See? That intervention with Leo-Pie was uncalled for!”

Derek laughed, a smile spreading across his face when both children began to kick ‘hello’.

“You were trying to keep me from hammering a nail into the wall. That intervention came at the right time.”

 “You get it now though, right?” Stiles replied and Derek trailed his fingers over his stomach, following the children’s movements.

“I understand how frustrating it is not to be able to do anything when you feel like you should because it’s your baby, too, only you aren’t doing any of the heavy lifting,” Derek admitted, seeking Stiles’ gaze in the mirror and holding it.

“I guess the lesson we are supposed to take from this might be a little moot since we only have a little over two months of pregnancy left, but I’m pretty sure I was supposed to learn that I should maybe allow you a little over-protectiveness every now and then?”

Stiles laughed.

“I’m not so sure a proud, independent witch wanted you to learn _that_ particular lesson, but I’ll gladly take the free pass for having a freak-out the next time you do something stupidly heroic like stepping on a ladder to climb into the tree house!”

He placed his hand on the right side of Derek’s stomach and rubbed gently, a wide smile threatening to split his lips.

“I learned something, too, while I was in your body. Something pretty exciting.”

“Yeah?” Derek asked and Stiles nodded with a big grin.

“I know what Baby B is! I mean, I could still be wrong of course, but even though my instincts were going crazy those past seven days, that was the one thing that felt right and absolutely clear to me.”

Derek turned around halfway, his eyes shining with warmth and curiosity as he regarded his mate.

“What are we having then?” he asked and Stiles laughed.

“Nope! I’m not telling! You owe me for letting me spend hours and hours trying to figure out a girl’s name for Cas when you knew all along he was a boy! If you can be Secret Wolf, I’ll be Secret Stiles. You’ll find out soon enough!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of thoughts, as usual.
> 
> LifeguardedWarehouse asked if maybe Allison could get Scott pregnant after all in the comments and that made me smile because the part in this chapter where Stiles says "You wait until Allison knocks you up after all" and Scott says "We're done" was written all the way back in July. I actually came up with a way in my head how that could actually work within the 'laws' of fictional mpreg and make sense (considering Deaton said it wasn't possible back in #SurpriseKnot and was actually right for once) but I think if I play around with that idea (which could be fun actually), it might be a one-shot? Derek and Stiles are going to have 5 kids, Scott already has 4, I already said that Jackson will have one more, making his total 4 as well and if I just keep adding the kids we'll be back in Duggar!AU territory and well .... you know ;-).  
> But it was a neat prompt and I'm sorry for not responding earlier, but as I said, the 'answer' was in this chapter and I wrote it like 3 months ago, so I decided to wait.
> 
> I doubt there'll be another update this month (as I said, lots on my plate job-wise and also, just as a heads up, if I ever write a fic called "Stiles goes to the dentist and spends the rest of the fic ranting to Derek about the horribly greedy dental care system in certain parts of the world and insurances that don't pay #§$%$" it's going to be a very bitter one) but we'll see.
> 
> Next Up: The Stilinski-Hales get a new car, Derek misses his family, a twin-themed baby-shower, and an unfortunate full-body wax accident.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real life y'all, it sometimes slows down the process. Thanks for sticking with me, though! Only four chapters left, so we are moving into the home-stretch here!

_July 28 th (32 Weeks)_

At the end of July Stiles, Leonie, Cas, and the Sheriff went to pick up the new car, a dark-teal colored mini-van that had enough room for five children, two adults, and a dog, plus diaper bags and whatever else they needed to fit in there for the foreseeable future.

Noah had elected to stay behind and was currently snuggled against Derek on the porch swing as they waited for the rest of the family to return.

Derek was feeling wistful as he stared into the forest that surrounded their property and he almost missed it when Noah nudged his arm.

“Papa? Is our entire family going to fit into the car?” he asked and Derek turned towards him, ruffling his hair affectionately.

“That’s the idea Noah-Boa,” he replied, raising one eyebrow questioningly when Noah averted his gaze almost shyly.

“Why?” Derek asked him, gently nudging his chin upward and Noah pursed his lips, looking deep in thought before he looked at Derek earnestly.

“Even Grandpa and Grandma?” he asked and Derek smiled.

“If we all squeeze together really tightly,” he said and Noah made a contemplative sound.

“Would Nana and Poppa have fit in as well?” he continued after a second’s thought and Derek’s eyes widened in surprise.

Leonie had started asking where his parents were when she had been three and though he had not shared the gruesome details of their other set of grandparents’ deaths with any of the children, Derek had occasionally told all of them stories about his parents.

The kids were absolutely fascinated with tales of a young Derek getting into trouble and though he had taken some liberties in shaping the truth to a more pedagogically appropriate measure, he had seen no reason not to indulge them.

He didn’t talk about them often and he was pretty sure that Stiles had somehow communicated to their children that it sometimes made Papa sad to talk about his family, but every now and then Derek found himself almost desperate to share some of his childhood memories before he forgot about them, to keep them alive through his own children.

That Noah was worrying about his werewolf Nana and Poppa’s place in their new family made him both proud and fiercely sad.

“Do you remember how I told you that Nana could shift into a real wolf?” he asked his son and Noah nodded, the sadness lifting from his features as he was obviously imagining his grandmother as a huge wolf.

“Yes Papa,” he said excitedly and Derek grinned.

“Well, Nana was the fastest wolf I had ever seen, so she wouldn’t have needed to be in the car. She would have run alongside the car and probably been faster than the rest of us anyways,” he said and Noah nodded, obviously convinced of his nana’s werewolf-superpowers.

“What about Poppa?” Noah continued and Derek smiled softly.

“Poppa would have ridden with Aunt Laura in the Camaro,” he said, smiling when he thought about the day Laura had driven the Camaro home for the first time.

She had saved up for a car for years and together with the cash she had gotten from their large family for her high school graduation, the Camaro had turned from a dream into a real possibility.

His mother had just shaken her head, eyes stern as she had informed Laura that she alone was responsible for payments and the expensive up keeping. His father, however, had pretended to question Laura’s sanity for just about as long as it had taken him to weasel the keys out of her hands and take the Camaro for a spin himself.

He had stolen his eldest’s car-keys every chance he had gotten that summer, patiently ignoring his family’s inquiries if he was experiencing a midlife crisis, and Derek was pretty sure that her husband’s enthusiasm for the car had softened his mother’s stance on Laura’s financial choices as well.

The car was very old now but unlike Stiles, who had retired his jeep years ago, Derek had held on to it, a large part of him simply unable to get rid of his last connection to Laura.

The air freshener she had hung into the car just before she had left for Beacon Hills that fateful day long ago was completely shriveled up by now, but still, Derek had kept it, never replacing it with another.

The car was sitting in the garage now to protect it from the weather, and on the very few occasions that Derek found himself having more than two hours time for himself these days he sometimes took it out for a drive, just to make sure it was still running.

It was an unspoken agreement between Stiles and Derek that the Camaro was going to be Leonie’s first car and Derek was certain that Laura, who had, in a way, been honored by the name they had chosen for their oldest daughter, would have heartily approved.

His musings were interrupted by the honk of a horn and when he looked up the new car was pulling into the driveway.

Noah was already hopping up and down next to it by the time Derek had hefted himself off the porch-swing (he would have to take a couple of extra pillows out here, that was for sure) and when he slowly walked up to the car, he couldn’t help but bite back laughter when he saw the flustered expression on the Sheriff’s face.

“He tried to teach me how to back into a parking space with such a large car on the way here … my Dad needs glasses” Stiles whispered as he slid out of the driver’s seat, ignoring Derek’s stern gaze that said “I was in your body recently so I know you need them, too”.

“Papa, Papa, do you like our new car?” Cas chirped as soon as the sliding door had opened and Derek stuck his head inside the van to inspect it.

When his eyes dropped to the floor he was torn between a smile and exasperation.

“I would like it more if I couldn’t already see ten candy-wrappers lying all over the floor,” Derek chided, exasperation turning into a smile after all when Leonie, Cas, Stiles, _and_ the Sheriff started pointing fingers at each other with bashful grins.

“I thought we had given up on tidiness until the twins go off to college?” Stiles said playfully, though there was definitely some resignation on his face and Derek nudged his shoulder.

“ _You_ gave up on it,” he corrected gently and Stiles laughed.

“Considering it’s the werewolves in this house who make the biggest mess, I had no choice but to give up,” he informed his husband and Derek, whose study was currently littered with scattered manuscripts (pregnancy-scatterbrain had taken a very literal turn lately), nodded sheepishly.

“Can’t argue that,” he conceded, sighing contentedly when Stiles wrapped his arms around him from behind, allowing him to rest his back against his mate’s chest.

“So,” Stiles spoke into his ear, the smile evident in his voice as they watched Noah, Leonie, and Cas squabble about future seating arrangements in the van.

“Where are we going to put the babies?”  

 

==================

 

“I can’t believe we missed out on this!”

Stiles looked almost heartbroken as he rushed into the living room one night later, startling Derek into almost spilling his marzipan-tea all over the armchair.

“Missed out on what?” he asked with a frown and Stiles carefully sat down his laptop on the armrest.

“This! We missed out on this! How could I miss out on this, I should not have missed out on this!”

Derek frowned in confusion.

 _This_ , was a picture of a pumpkin, or rather, a pumpkin painted on a very pregnant belly. It was an artistic picture, Derek had to admit, but he wasn’t really sure what reaction Stiles was expecting from him.

“It’s a … nice picture?” he tried and Stiles groaned.

“Halloween, Derek! We could have dressed up the bump for Halloween and we didn’t! And now we won’t get another chance!”

Derek snorted.

“I keep telling you my love, a bump is an ugly word describing the lumps Noah sometimes gets on his head when he runs into something,” he said, cocking his head as he did some calculations.

“Also, we really didn’t miss out on anything, if you think about it. In 2022 I was barely two months along with Leonie on Halloween, so that wouldn’t have made any sense, I wasn’t pregnant at all in October with Cas and with Noah I …” he trailed off, sighing when Stiles groaned loudly.

“Exactly! You might have been only 18 weeks along, but you were _definitely_ showing with Noah around that time. It would have been small pumpkin, but we could have totally spiced up the bump! Pun intended!”

Derek laughed, almost despite himself.

“I know you miss your pumpkin spice lattes, but that was just horrible,” he grinned and Stiles shrugged.

“Doesn’t change the fact that we had our one chance to do an awesome pregnant Halloween costume and we totally blew it!” he lamented and Derek patted his leg comfortingly.

“I can try to keep them in until Halloween, but I have to warn you, that will put me at 44 weeks and I’m pretty sure with two in there that would probably look very grotesque. I mean, fitting for Halloween, obviously, but I am getting unfortunate flashbacks to Monty Python here, fair warning,” he teased him and Stiles chuckled.

“I am both proud of me for actually getting you invested in classics of popular culture and disturbed by how you choose to apply your knowledge,” he said and Derek poked his side with a snort.

“Says the man who once made me read terrible Destiel fan fictions to prepare for a knotting fantasy,” he said gently, smiling against Stiles’ mouth when the younger man smacked a kiss on his lips.

“And look where that got us!” he said, placing the laptop on the coffee table before he gingerly sat down on Derek’s upper legs, careful not to put too much weight on his husband as he cradled his stomach.

“Daddy’s great ideas led us to having you two, but Daddy is also really sorry that we couldn’t dress you up in an awesome pumpkin Halloween costume,” he lamented and Derek shook his head.

“You realize that we’ll able to actually dress them up for real in October, right?” he asked and Stiles shrugged again.

“Yeah, but then they’ll be dressed as superheroes, obviously. The pumpkin, however, that is just a lost chance now, a dream that will never be fulfilled until our oldest makes us grandparents,” he said, stilling for a second and grimacing.

“Yeah, now _that_ is a scary thought, forget I ever said anything!”

Derek laughed.

“Would you feel better if I made you a pumpkin spice latte?” he asked and Stiles’ eyes widened.

“You _cheater_! I totally knew you bought some in bulk during the last pumpkin season and hid them from me!” he accused and Derek nodded.

“I was waiting for the right moment,” he said and Stiles shook his head theatrically.

“It’s _always_ the right moment for a pumpkin spice latte!” he declared, moving off of Derek and extending his hand to help him up.

Once he was standing, Derek framed Stiles’ face with his hands and looked at him with a serious expression.

“I am willing to kiss your pumpkin-spice-latte tasting mouth for two months a year, I can give you that, but that’s about all I can do,” he said, serious expression turning into a smile when Stiles muttered “Blasphemy!” under his breath.

“Now, my beloved Sacrilegious Wolf, go forth into the kitchen and make me my coffee – hey, are you barefoot?”

Derek, who hadn’t been able to fit into any of his normal shoes for two weeks now, just gave him a look and Stiles winced in sympathy.

“Ooops. Foot massage?”

“It’s really the least you can do,” Derek decided and when he relaxed back into the couch cushions with a cup of decaf pumpkin spice latte ten minutes later he rested his free hand on his belly with a resigned shrug.

“Given the fact that I never liked this pumpkin-monstrosity, liking it now better not mean that I have one or two more pumpkin spice latte fanatics on my hands in this house,” he told the babies sternly and Stiles, who was curled up on the other end of the couch and was obviously worshipping at the altar of Everything-is-Pumpkin-Flavored, sighed contentedly.

“It’s probably because I was in your body for a week my love.”

Derek groaned.

“I _hate_ witches!”

 

==================

 

On the first Saturday after Stiles’ pumpkin-belly Halloween costume lament Derek sent his mate (who had once again been making not-so-subtle hints that he felt like an inadequate father-to-be if he wasn’t sent out for midnight craving runs at least once every week) out for a slice of white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake from the nearest Cheesecake Factory.

Since that meant that Stiles would be gone for at least three to four hours, he had more than enough time to set his plan in motion.

When Stiles came back with an entire cheesecake, he was greeted by the entire pack dressed up in Halloween costumes, his very excited children, and a grinning mate, who was lounging on the plastic-sheet covered armchair wearing the oldest, shabbiest pair of sweatpants and sweater that he had been able to find.

“Surprise Daddy!” Cas yelled as soon as Stiles walked in the door and Scott barely managed to catch the cake-box that a very startled Stiles almost dropped on the floor.

“Huh?” Stiles finally got out and Lydia wrapped her arm around his shoulder.

“It has been brought to my attention that _someone_ was whining about missed opportunities and since we wanted to throw you guys a twin baby-shower anyways, combining the two just made perfect sense,” she said, gesturing towards the large banner proclaiming “Halloween-Shower” that was hanging over the fireplace.

“Luckily for you my crafts-skills not only include making gorgeous scarves but also body-painting, so how about you come over here and get started?” Isaac spoke up from his seat next to Derek, waving a tube of bright orange body-paint in front of him and Stiles’ broke out into a huge smile.

“Really?” he asked excitedly and Derek nodded, pulling up his sweater far enough to give Stiles some room to work with.

An hour later, Derek was reasonably sure that Isaac had missed his calling as a sadistic arts teacher but he had do admit that his curly-haired Beta’s strict instructions had actually led to Stiles producing a rather artistic picture of a pumpkin on his skin.

It wasn’t the most pleasant feeling in the world – he didn’t have all that much hair on his lower torso but definitely enough for it to feel slightly weird when plastered against his skin with the sticky paint – but it was a small price to pay for the looks of excitement on his entire family’s faces as they posed for the undoubtedly most ridiculous picture series in the history of family photos.

While the pack quickly decimated the cake Stiles had brought from the Cheesecake Factory, Derek opened the gifts or, rather, Cas and Noah opened them enthusiastically under Stiles’ watchful gaze.

After three children and more hand-me-downs from the rest of the pack than he could count, there wasn’t really a lot that they needed for the twins’ upcoming arrival, but Derek was nevertheless very grateful for the twin stroller that the pack had gotten them as a collective gift.

There were also some of the obligatory twin-themed onesies (“Thing 1 and Thing 2, it’s a classic, Derek!”) and more diapers than Derek had ever seen in his life, but the one present that confused him at first was Erica and Boyd’s gift.

“A Belly-Casting Kit?” he asked with a frown and Erica grinned.

“Absolutely! Stiles is completely right, you guys took those maternity … ooops, sorry, _paternity_ picture series when you were expecting Leonie, but after that you became completely boring with the bump-endeavors. Don’t give me that look, I know you hate that word, but it’s a thing that people say and I will not feel shame! _Anyway_ , we thought this would be the perfect opportunity for you guys to do this and besides, it will be a great reminder of why you are done with having children afterwards. A _very_ great reminder, trust me!”

Derek wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to trust a woman who changed her mind about a third child on a weekly basis on that particular issue, but he nevertheless found himself caked with wet plaster gauze an hour later.

The pack members with children had gone home to put them to bed and only Lydia and Isaac had remained, the former of whom was sipping a glass of wine while reading a bedtime story to Cas and Noah and the latter of whom was assisting Leonie and Stiles with applying the Belly Cast to Derek’s skin.

“Once the cast is set the mother removes it through some wiggling motion,” Leonie read from the instructions half an hour later, a frown on her face when she looked up at Derek.

“That’s really sexist, Papa!” she declared and Stiles ruffled her hair affectionately.

“I appreciate the sentiment Leo-Pie, but we’ll have to forgive them for not knowing that some Papas can have babies, too, don’t you think?” he said and Leonie shrugged.

“I wish we could tell them sometimes … I don’t like it that Papa has to hide all the time, it’s just not fair,” she decided and Lydia grinned at them over the tops of Cas and Noah’s tussled heads, who had both curled into her sides and were half-asleep.

“Seems to me like you’ve got a future activist on your hands,” she commented and Stiles grinned proudly.

“Some more fine-tuning on the diplomacy skills and that might very well be true. Who knows, she might even become a werewolf-rights activist if that ever becomes common knowledge,” he decided, grinning at his mate fondly, who was frowning at the cast.

“Don’t you agree Derek?” he asked and Derek wiggled in response, frown turning into a grimace.

“I’ll agree to anything here in a second, right after I get this cast off of me,” he grunted, hissing in pain when he tried to tug at the edges.

“Damn it!” he cursed under his breath and Stiles looked at Isaac in confusion.

“Shouldn’t this be the easy part?” he asked, while Isaac studied the back of the box again.

“It should be, I mean, Leo-Pie applied the Vaseline before we got started, so it shouldn’t be an issue,” he said, eyes flicking to Leonie, who was slowly turning red.

“Uhm …” she said almost inaudibly and Stiles groaned loudly.

“Leo-Pie! Did you really forget the Vaseline?”

Leonie blushed even further.

“It wasn’t where you said it was in the bathroom and so I just grabbed some other bottle, I thought it would be the same!” she defended herself and Derek sighed deeply.

“What did you use Leo-Pie?” he asked and Leonie looked at him unhappily.

“The gel-wax Aunt Cora gave you as a present that time she said you were starting to look like a lumber-jack,” she whispered and Stiles groaned.

“I probably should have noticed that before we put the cast on,” he said weakly, giving Derek, who was wiggling with more vigor now, a sympathetic look.

“On the plus side, you are getting smooth skin _and_ a belly cast out of this?” he tried and Derek glared, flinching when the cast slowly came loose.

“Ouch!” he yelped when Isaac tried to help, startling Noah and Cas out of their almost-sleep.

“Papa hurt? Babies coming?” Cas yawned and Stiles shook his head quickly.

“Papa is fine, go back to sleep baby-boy,” he said, wincing when Derek let out another curse.

“Are you sure? People always yell when babies are coming!” Noah supported his brother’s theory and Lydia hugged him comfortingly.

“Your Papa isn’t having the babies, your Papa is _acting_ like a big baby. He’s fine, don’t worry Noah-Boa,” she soothed him, smirking at Derek when he looked at her with a betrayed expression.

“It’s not that bad Derek, suck it up!” she said briskly and Leonie let out a distressed whine.

“I’m so sorry Papa, I didn’t mean to make it hurt!” she rushed out and Derek, who felt like he had already epilated half of his stomach, forced a smile.

“I’m fine, don’t worry, but you should go get me some lotion … and please make sure it’s real lotion this time, alright?” he gritted out and Stiles shook his head when Leonie rushed out of the room.

“For a girl she really has a poor grasp of cosmetic products sometimes,” he observed, yelping when Lydia stuck out her foot to kick his shin.

“What was that for?!” he protested and Isaac snorted.

“Don’t be such a sexist Stilinski!” he chided him and Stiles huffed.

“I’ll have you know that I’m not a sexist, I’m a feminist, as every respectable father of a daughter should be. Doesn’t mean I didn’t wish she’d stop making a mess out of my bathroom by constantly spilling powder all over the place when she tries out new make-up creations,” he grumbled and Derek snorted.

“Thought we had given up on tidiness, remember?” he said, before squeezing his eyes shut and yanking the final piece of the cast away with a pained growl.

“Oh Derek,” Stiles sighed in sympathy when werewolf’s flaming red skin appeared in full view, just as Leonie rushed back into the room with a large bottle of hand-lotion.

“That looks … really gross,” Isaac commented when he inspected the inside of the cast and Derek, who was busy soothing his skin with the lotion, huffed.

“Pregnancy and gross? A contradiction if I’ve ever heard it,” he grumbled under his breath.

 Lydia clucked her tongue.

“I’m hearing some frustration here?” she asked, tone half-teasing, half-concerned and Derek sighed.

“Not frustration, at least not really. I’m just ready for them to be born. This is as big as I got with the other three and it just feels like they should be ready, only I know there’s still more than a month left and that’s just … it’s strange,” he said and Lydia nodded.

“I’m sure they’ll be here sooner than you think Derek. Meanwhile, would you like me to put these two to bed?” she asked, nodding at Cas, who was curled up on her lap and sleeping soundly, and Noah, who was barely able to keep his eyes open as he snuggled against her arm.

“Would you?” Stiles asked gratefully, his arm wrapped around Leonie’s shoulder as they stood next to Isaac, who was meticulously removing the hair from the inside of the cast with his particular brand of long-suffering expression.

“Waxing-mishap aside, I think this came out quite well,” Isaac commented and Derek joined them at the table, ruffling Leonie’s hair to reassure her that he wasn’t mad when she shyly nudged his arm.

“It’s … nice,” he decided, grinning when Stiles beamed proudly.

“Let the record reflect, however, I am definitely not doing this ever again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up, the entire family paints the babies' nursery (and comes up with a somewhat creative theme-compromise) and Derek and Stiles officially retire the naming-box idea.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After that really long pause I thought I'd give you the next chapter sooner than expected :). Typos are, as usual, my own.

_August 13 th (34 Weeks)_

Stiles liked to pride himself on the fact that he would do everything for his heavily pregnant mate, regardless of how ridiculous or unnecessary some of his requests were these days (the other day, Derek, hit by a strong urge to nest, had forced Stiles to rearrange the furniture in the nursery five times, crankily sucking on a popsicle as he had observed the proceedings from the rocking chair with his feet stuck in a big pot of ice-water) but there really wasn’t anything he could do if his mate didn’t use his words.

Using words had always been an issue with his beloved werewolf and after the fourth passive-aggressive sigh coming from his right Stiles carefully set down the book he had been reading and turned towards his mate, who was sitting next to him on the bed supported by what had to be at least ten pillows and was miserably rubbing his swollen abdomen.

“Problem?” Stiles asked carefully, still cautious after the afternoon’s blow-up when his overheated mate had momentarily forgotten he was a strong werewolf and accidentally ripped the ac-panel off the wall in his frustrated attempt to crank up their air conditioner even higher.

“I’m hungry!” Derek declared, looking utterly heartbroken as he continued to rub his belly.

“Do you need me to grab you some food from the kitchen?” Stiles asked, already swinging his legs out of bed and stopping in confusion when Derek growled a frustrated “No!”

“But … you just said you were hungry?” Stiles asked and Derek grunted once more.

“I _am_ hungry. But I can’t eat!”

He didn’t look nauseous, but Stiles tensed nevertheless as he crawled over to his mate, resting one hand on his belly in concern.

“Do you need me to grab the pills?” he asked and Derek shook his head, squeezing his eyes shut briefly before he looked at Stiles as if he thought his human mate was an idiot.

“I’m not nauseous and I’m not physically hungry … but I’m _mentally_ hungry and that’s even worse and I want nothing more than to eat a bucket of fried chicken dipped in white chocolate sauce but I _can’t_!”

Stiles shuddered, feeling his arteries clog up in protest already.

“I’m sorry my love, I don’t get what you’re trying to tell me. Why don’t you eat something if you are that hungry?”

“Have you ever tried eating something while two babies were pushing against your stomach so tightly that you can barely fit in _anything_ without getting a stomachache immediately?!” Derek barked and Stiles exhaled slowly.

“As a matter of fact I did Derek, four weeks ago if you recall, and as far as I remember you guys were griping at me for days because I was supposedly eating _too much_!” he replied, not able to help the snarkiness – he hated it when Derek barked at him like that for no reason, nine months pregnant or not.

“Exactly, four weeks ago! Since then these babies have almost doubled in size and they are running out of room, which is why they have invaded every available space inside me, most notably the room normally reserved for my bladder, lungs, and stomach!”

Derek was glaring at him thunderously and Stiles pulled his hand back from his mate’s heaving belly, not wanting to be accused of taking up even more room by supposedly pushing down too hard on his stomach.

It wasn’t a valid concern under normal circumstances, but Derek was clearly not in the mood to care.

“Our _five-year old_ can eat bigger portion sizes than me these days and he’s _five_!” Derek continued, grimacing as he began to rub the area of his breastbone against another bout of heartburn.

“I am hungry almost every thirty minutes because whenever I eat I barely manage to force anything down before I start feeling uncomfortable! It was never like that with the other three, I _hate_ this!”

“It’s only six more weeks,” Stiles said patiently, sighing when Derek huffed angrily.

“I can’t do this for six more weeks, there’s no way that’s going to happen!” he snapped and Stiles took another deep breath.

He had been waiting for a major attack of mood-swings, though he had been more prepared for tears than for anger.

“What do you want me to do Derek?” he asked carefully, wincing when Derek glared at him.

“You can stop talking, for starters, that would be _really_ helpful,” he snapped and Stiles closed his eyes briefly, counting to ten before he opened them again and fixed Derek with a calm gaze.

“Alright then,” he said softly, getting up from the bed and grabbing his pillow and the book before he made his way downstairs, tiptoeing past the children’s bedrooms so he wouldn’t wake them.

In a way, he could understand Derek’s frustration, he really could.

The months of HG had depleted a lot of Derek’s energy reserves for the remainder of the pregnancy and he had noticed Derek struggling far more than he had with their other three children for weeks now, especially since there were two babies this time.

Aiden had assured them both that the babies were doing fine and so was Derek, but his mate’s exhaustion had rapidly increased over the past week or so, which had led to Stiles’ decision to start his paternity leave a bit early.

Leonie could entertain herself just fine and if he was honest, so could Noah, but Cas was still a potential candidate for ADHD and with school starting back up in two weeks Stiles simply felt better about staying home and taking care of all the preparations for the new school year, as well as the every-day stuff such as cooking and making sure the house was still in one piece at the end of the day.

Spending more time with his children wasn’t really a hardship, either, and besides, with only six weeks left before the twins’ due date (or rather, four, since Stiles was reasonably certain that they would come early) there was still a lot do be done in preparation for their arrival.

Derek had been adamant that they shared a nursery for the first two years, arguing that if even just one were a werewolf, separating them after spending all that time together in utero would do more harm than good, and they had just recently finished moving Cas into a new room, since his had been closest to the master bedroom.

Cas had had some initial problems with adapting to the change and had crawled into their bed on more than one occasion in the past two weeks, but after three consecutive child-free nights in a row Stiles was hopeful that his youngest was finally starting to like his new room, especially considering that he had spent so much time painting the solar system on the wall.

And duckies in a space suit, because why not, his youngest had somewhat of an eccentric taste sometimes.

That also meant that his son’s old room hadn’t been painted in over five years and Stiles had been looking forward to painting the new nursery with the kids for days now.

They had yet to agree on a theme so Stiles had simply purchased a wide assortment of colors for this weekend, hopeful that their little family craft project would go off without too big of a glitch.

The biggest glitch at the moment, however, was Derek’s sour mood, and although he had mostly vented his frustration at Stiles for the past couple of days the human wasn’t sure how the children would react to being barked at by their hormonal werewolf father for no reason.

Stiles definitely didn’t appreciate it. He understood it to a certain degree, but he nevertheless felt only slightly bad for sleeping on the couch, hopeful that maybe getting a good night’s rest on his own would put Derek in a better mood.

He had just fallen asleep two hours later, book resting on his chest and his new glasses (he had been loath to admit it, but Derek had been right, he _really_ needed them) hanging lopsidedly off his nose, when someone pressed a soft kiss against his temple, waking him instantly.

“Derek?” he yawned, blinking as he took in the mournful face of his husband, who had knelt down next to the couch and was currently stroking his arm.

“I’m sorry,” Derek said quietly, rubbing his free hand over his tired eyes.

“That was extremely disrespectful of me, it will never be my place to tell you to stop talking. Especially not when you’re just trying to be there for me,” he apologized and Stiles yawned again, reaching out to stroke Derek’s cheek.

“Apology accepted,” he muttered, blinking his eyes rapidly to fully wake up so he could look at his husband properly.

“I understand that you are frustrated and tired, I really, really do, especially now that I have an actual idea of how you feel, but you seriously have to stop barking at me all the time. Or you could at least try.”

Derek sighed.

“I know. I feel horrible every single time, it’s just that sometimes …”

“Sometimes the hormones just get the better of you? Trust me, I know. I never told you this, but one afternoon during that Freaky Friday-Week when you took the kids to the ice-cream parlor to take advantage of the fact that you could actually go outside with them without having people faint, I kind of … well … remember how you couldn’t find the ugly vase Chris gave us at our wedding the other day?”

Derek nodded, frowning in confusion.

“Well, I kind of broke it a little? If I remember correctly, I did it in a fit of inexplicable rage because we were out of fruit loops. And then I cried over it for almost an hour, which made no sense, because I’ve always hated that thing. It was a very eye-opening experience. I also got the hiccups and I don’t think our babies liked that very much. Anyways, if I have to choose between you barking at me and crying inconsolably then by all means, bark ahead, I’d much prefer that. Just … maybe not as much?”

Derek smiled.

“I’ll try my best,” he promised, lifting Stiles’ hand to nuzzle against his palm for a brief second before he sat back.

“So … are you coming back to bed?” he asked, looking a little unsure and Stiles chuckled, leaning over to kiss his werewolf’s nose.

“Don’t be a Stupid Wolf, of course I am.”

Stiles sat up, stretching languidly and yawning once more before he fully took in Derek’s position on the floor.

“Think you can get up on your own?” he asked, stretching out a kink in his back as he stood up and Derek blinked up at him with a resigned expression.

“I have decided I’m not even going to try,” he replied, sounding extremely put-out and Stiles bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing as he bent over and pulled Derek to his feet.

“You know I know that you’re laughing at me, right?” Derek grumbled when he was standing safely and Stiles wrapped his arms around him, burrowing his nose into Derek’s shoulder.

“Would you believe I’m laughing _with_ you?” he grinned, voice muffled by Derek’s shirt and Derek sighed.

“If I was actually laughing then yes, I would. Probably,” he said, giving his husband his sternest glare when Stiles pulled back to frame his face, lips twitching ever so slightly.

“You’re laughing on the inside, I can tell,” Stiles decided and Derek rolled his eyes before he snorted, hand coming to rest on top of his stomach.

“I was able to break solid brick walls with my fist once … now I’m losing a battle against gravity on a daily basis,” he lamented as they slowly walked up the stairs and Stiles chuckled.

“Pretty sure you could still break solid brick walls with your fist my love. Your fists possess many magnificent capabilities,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows a little as they slipped under the covers of their bed.

Derek shook his head, laughing quietly.

“Would you care for a quick demonstration?” he asked, yawning loudly a second later and Stiles smiled.

“I’m too sleepy to fully appreciate it now … I would not be opposed to a bit of spooning though,” he decided and Derek sighed contentedly as he lay down on his side, relaxing when Stiles wrapped one arm around his stomach and intertwined their fingers.

“I’ll miss this. Feeling our babies through your skin. If you had told me twenty years ago that this would be one of the best feelings in the world I would have … well, first I would have laughed and said that men don’t get pregnant, obviously, but I wouldn’t have believed it even if I had known.”

Derek smiled, eyes closed as his breathing began to even out.

“It’s the one thing I’ll miss about being pregnant,” he agreed, smile turning a little wistful.

“Do you think we’ll be able to pull this off? Two babies, I mean? Without being shipped off to Eichen House?”

Stiles chuckled.

“If your sister could do it mostly on her own, so can we. And besides, Leo-Pie and Noah are super excited to help out and once the babies will be old enough to interact with us a little more other than just eat and sleep Cas will be excited about them, too.”

He grinned when he could feel one of the children nudge against his hand.

“It’ll be a Hale-Stilinski family affair, you’ll see.”

 

===============

 

“I want the moon! And monkeys! Moon-Monkeys!”

“That’s stupid, monkeys don’t howl at the moon!”

“Monkeys sleep under the moon! Daddy, Papa, I want monkeys! Pink monkeys!”

“Pink monkeys?”

“Yes! Pink monkeys! Sissy wants pink monkeys!”

“Why do they have to be pink, baby-boy?”

“Baby-sister has to be pink!”

“No she doesn’t! I like pink and I’m not a girl!”

“He’s right Cas, I’m a girl and my favorite color is blue!”

“Is not, is pink! Girls like pink!”

“No I don’t!”

“ … but? But … Daaaaaddy! Pink!”

Stiles shared an exasperated look with his husband when Cas stomped his little foot, unhappily glaring at his fathers in his best Derek imitation, which was only ruined by the way he was flailing his arms as he talked.

“Baby sister will be unhappy! Room has to be pink!”

Derek sighed; opening up his arms so their youngest could snuggle up against him and ruffling his hair.

“That’s very nice of you to be concerned Cas, but your brother and sister are right, not all girls like pink.”

“Then why are girl things always pink?” Cas sniffed unhappily and Stiles raised his eyebrows, crouching down in front of his husband and son.

“You’re right baby-boy, many girl things are pink, but that doesn’t mean they _have_ to like it.”

“But what if sister _does_! She’ll cry _all_ the time, just like Ellie, and that means she’ll be sad! And if baby sister cries, then brother-sister will cry, too and then we’ll all cry!”

Stiles shook his head, sending Scott and Allison, who looked like zombies these days after three weeks of a colicky baby, a quick mental apology.

“She won’t cry all the time and when she does, she won’t cry because she doesn’t have a pink room. But we can totally put some pink monkeys in there if you really want to Cas, it’ll be your present for the babies, alright?”

Noah scratched his head, urgently shaking his father’s shoulder.

“But Daddy, can’t they at least be unicorns? Unicorns can be pink, but I’ve never seen a pink monkey!”

“No, I want a monkey! The monkey can teach them how to climb up the tree house with us!” Cas protested and Noah pursed his lips, thinking for a moment.

“Alright, but if you get the pink monkeys then I want an ocean!”

Leonie shook her head immediately, voicing Stiles’ concern when she addressed her brother.

“Think about it, oceans are blue and if we paint the room blue it’s going to be so dark in there!”

“How about a jungle? That way we can paint the walls in a light green and we can still have the pink monkeys?” Stiles said quickly and Derek nodded, smiling at Cas when he beamed up at him at the mention of the monkeys.

“We could paint a tree-house, too, so they can look forward to play with us in the real one?” Noah said slowly, his face lighting up and the idea of the ocean obviously forgotten.

“If we’re going with a pink and green theme then I want a unicorn, too! Not a pink one, though, a white one, and maybe a wizard,” Leonie decided and Derek shrugged amicably, glad that his oldest was apparently drawing her literary inspiration from _The Last Unicorn_ and not _Twilight_ (Stiles and Leonie had just finished reading the third book and after listening to his daughter lament about the dilemma whether she was Team Jacob or Team Edward now that she knew more facts, Derek had really wanted to nominate himself for the Parent-of-the-Year Award).

“A Daddy-Wizard?” Noah asked excitedly and Stiles laughed, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and kissing his forehead.

“Daddy’s a spark, not a wizard Noah, but thanks for the vote of confidence!”

“No Daddy, you’re a wizard!” Noah said earnestly and Stiles beamed proudly, ignoring Derek’s muttered “Harry!” with a grin.

“Alright, Daddy’s a wizard. And for his first magical act, Daddy is going to make you all a vanilla milkshake to sustain us before we start painting the nursery!”

He got up, grinning at Derek when his husband looked at him with a sheepish expression.

“Any extra-wishes I should know about my love?” he asked and Derek blushed, mumbling, “Pickle-juice?” under his breath.

“Ewwww, Papa, _gross_!” all three children protested in unison and Stiles clucked his tongue, raising his eyebrows at them playfully.

“Don’t you ewwwww Papa, if the babies want pickle juice then they’ll get pickle juice, he can’t really help it.”

“Puppies are crazy!” Cas decided, scrunching up his face and looking even more like Derek than he usually did.

“The puppies just don’t know what’s good yet,” Noah defended his unborn siblings, flashing his werewolf father a big grin when Derek sighed at his children’s tendency to refer to the babies as puppies.

“Noah’s right though,” Stiles said five minutes later when he carried a pitcher of milkshake and an extra glass of pickle juice back into the living room.

“The babies don’t know what’s good yet, so they’ll have to rely on you guys to teach them all they need to know,” he continued and three heads nodded seriously back at him.

“We should make a list!” Noah decided and while the kids were buys coming up with things that they wanted to teach their siblings (some of which made Stiles wonder where exactly he and Derek had gone wrong with the parenting), the soon-to-be-parents of five got cozy on the couch, sipping their milkshakes as they watched their children brainstorm.

“For the record Derek, I love you, but I’m not kissing you again until you brush your teeth at least twice. Nope, no kisses for Derek, I mean it!” Stiles teased, eyes sparkling with mischief when he gave the glass in Derek’s hand a meaningful stare.

“Is that so?” Derek said conversationally, setting the glass down carefully before he leaned over, mouth only an inch away from Stiles’.

“Afraid so?” Stiles grinned, realizing the flaw in his actions instantly when Derek used the opening to dive in for a kiss, smirking against his mouth when Stiles giggled in a way that sounded suspiciously like “Ewww.”

“What ever happened to ‘Don’t eewww Papa’?” he asked teasingly when he pulled back and Stiles scrunched up his nose.

“I take it back, they can ewwww you all they want, man that was _gross_!” he said, managing to keep his composure for all of another second before he started laughing.

“Well, you know better than to deny your hormone-crazed mate kisses,” Derek said, resting both hands on his belly for emphasis and smiling cockily when Stiles exclaimed “Not fair!”

“Papa? What are hormones?”

Derek looked at Noah like a deer caught in the headlights and Stiles snorted.

“How about you handle that one Papa Wolf, Daddy needs to go brush his teeth!” Stiles decided, patting Derek’s shoulder supportively when his husband gave him a pleading gaze.

He was able to keep the laughter in when Leonie and Noah yelled “Ewwwww!” simultaneously two minutes later, but it was a close one.

 

=================

 

“Did you give any more thought to Aiden’s suggestion?” Stiles asked his husband two days later, flashing him a curious smile as he climbed off the ladder.

He had just put the finishing touches on a pink monkey in a space suit dangling from a liana – Cas’ idea – and when he sank down into the second rocking chair next to Derek he felt decidedly accomplished.

The twins’ nursery was perhaps a bit unconventional – Noah had insisted that if he wasn’t getting the ocean theme he had wanted there should be at least _some_ ocean-dwelling animals frolicking through the jungle and though Stiles was proud of the mighty octopus on the wall opposite the windows, he was reasonably sure that he would have a hard time explaining the pink and white polka-dotted animal to his father – but it had definitely been a family affair, which was all he had wanted in the first place.

Derek, who was resting his back and carefully rocking back and forth in his own chair, reached over and grabbed his hand, gently caressing his husband’s wrist.

“I did … but I just don’t really see the point. I get that he’s trying to cover all the bases but if the birth of our third child taught me anything, I know that children really don’t care about your birth-plan at all,” he said and Stiles, who still remembered the shock he had felt when he had walked into the living room and seen his mate cradling their new son in a pile of bunched up sweatpants, chuckled.

“Unless of course your birth plan is to give birth in an armchair with only your seven year old for company. Then it works perfectly,” he agreed, sighing contentedly when Derek began massaging a sore spot below his thumb.

“I just feel like that would jinx it, you know? I’ve gone through this three times; I don’t think I need it. With our luck, if I come up with a birth plan now, the exact opposite will happen. I’d rather not waste time doing that,” he decided and Stiles nodded.

“We should definitely spend our time coming up with names for the babies,” Stiles agreed and Derek sighed, obviously remembering the latest naming-box disaster, which had led to everyone agreeing that the few names that had made it on the board (Sophie, Kayla, Connor, and Milo) didn’t feel right after all, meaning that they were once again completely clueless about the babies’ names.

“I wasn’t going to mention it, I really wasn’t, but maybe … don’t you think we should …”

“Stop using the stupid box and be traditional parents who won’t let the big siblings have any input? I wholeheartedly agree,” Stiles said, winking at Derek with a resigned smile.

“Exactly,” Derek said, exhaling in obvious relief that Stiles was in agreement with him.

“I love our children, but at the end of the day, we are the parents,” he muttered and Stiles smiled widely.

“They won’t like that very much, after we led them to believe they had a say for almost half of the pregnancy,” Stiles said and Derek shrugged.

“I think we indulged them enough with the unicorns, octopus, and the monkeys … they’ll live,” he decided and Stiles laughed.

“And a magnificent octopus it is.”

They had been silent for a while when Stiles turned towards his mate again.

“There’s a girl name I really, really like, from a story that my grandmother used to tell me. It might be a little too exotic for a first name, maybe, but I really like it as a middle name.”

He leaned over to whisper it into Derek’s ear and the werewolf repeated it slowly, nodding in approval.

“I like it. Maybe not as her first name, but I definitely like it as a middle name. It’s quite beautiful,” he decided and Stiles beamed.

“Would you still like it if I told you that it’s also the name of a very beautiful red and white flower?” he asked and Derek chuckled.

“It beats Orchid by about a hundred miles,” he replied.

Stiles nodded.

“Yeah, that was perhaps not my most prolific baby-naming moment,” he agreed, reaching over to rest his hand against the side of Derek’s stomach where they knew their confirmed baby-girl to be.

“Well, one middle name down, two first names and another middle name to go. Three and two, actually, since we still don’t know what Baby B is. This will be easy,” he half-grinned, half-lamented.

Derek shrugged.

“Call me crazy, but I have a feeling we’ll figure it out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: Lydia screams.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, here is the cliffhanger-chapter.
> 
> I don't want to spoiler the ending of this chapter, technically, but please head my WARNING: if you have any triggers that you feel might potentially come up in a MPREG fic (read: birth complications and everything that could possibly entail), please check out the note at the end first.

_August 21 st (35 Weeks)_

Boyd was a rather practical person and Erica liked going on vacations. These two things combined led to a joint-birthday celebration for Channing and Polly on the 21st of August, the proud parents’ reasoning being that since it was exactly 9 days after Polly’s birthday and 9 days before Channing’s birthday it would be the perfect date to celebrate both of their children.

Also, it allowed them to go on a three-week family vacation starting the day before Channing’s actual birthday on the 30th without having to feel guilty that there would be no party for him since, in Erica’s opinion, having the party after their return would be rather moot almost a month after the fact.

At three and two years old respectively neither of the Boyd children minded that they had to share the party and though Erica was obviously trying to hide it, Derek was pretty sure he had seen her blinking back a tear when she had discovered that even Lydia had found the time to drive down from San Francisco, bringing with her an assortment of stylish new toddler clothes that Derek was certain Polly would accidentally destroy within the first week.

It was a nice day, not too hot and not too humid and Derek spent the majority of the party on Boyd and Erica’s porch, watching Boyd, whose calm demeanor had always made him good with the pack kids, direct the various games they had prepared for the children.

Most of them were designed for children no older than five but Noah and Josie, who were both 8 and 7-year old Alex, Scott’s middle son, seemed to enjoy themselves as well.

Leonie had taken Ellie, Scott and Allison’s 8 months old baby-daughter, into custody the moment the McCall family had arrived and had refused to surrender her since, calmly informing two amused sets of parents that she had to practice for when the twins were born.

Derek shook his head with a grin when Stiles nudged his elbow excitedly, pointing out the way Leonie, Ellie, and Scott’s oldest son Mikey, who was 9 and a half now, already looked like a beautiful little family.

“I know you are dead-set on Mikey and Leo-Pie getting married but I really don’t see that happening,” he replied, smirking around his straw as he continued to drink his cherry-vanilla smoothie.

Shaking his head at Stiles’ disbelieving snort he watched Mikey abandon Leonie and his little sister to go help Noah climb up a tree in pursuit of the treasure that Boyd, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten that not all pack children were werewolves, had hidden just a little too high within the branches.

It was just a hunch, really, but as far as Derek was concerned, if Mikey McCall would end up marrying any of his children, it would not be Leo-Pie but Noah, despite Scott and Stiles’ pact to betroth their oldest children to each other on the night that Michael had been born.

Jackson’s middle-daughter and only werewolf child Aurelia, whom almost everyone still called Goldie, had enlisted Cas’ help in finding the treasure and was bossing him around in truest Whittemore fashion, while 3-year old Thomas McCall had decided to team up with the birthday boy and the birthday girl.

Emilia, Jackson’s shy 2-year old youngest, had elected not to play and had made herself comfortable on Aiden’s lap, sucking on her thumb with a contented smile as her new step-father tried – and failed – to follow Lydia’s instructions for braiding the little girl’s hair.

Derek still couldn’t wrap his mind around the fact that Lydia and Aiden got along so well, much better even than she had ever gotten along with Julia, but Stiles was right – Aiden and Jackson shared so many personality traits, it was no wonder Lydia felt just as comfortable with him as she did with her former lover-turned-best friend.

Stiles had recently suggested trying to set her up with Ethan and Derek had threatened to withhold sex for the foreseeable future if he did, pretty sure that that was just a tad too much on the wrong side of weird.

With almost all of the pack children present and accounted for Derek turned his attention towards Finja and Jacob, the werewolf twins Cora had adopted almost two years ago. They were 21 months old now and couldn’t have been more different in personality and looks.

Finja had blue eyes, blonde hair and was shy, almost broody at times, while dark-haired and brown-eyed Jacob had one of the bubbliest personalities Derek had ever seen in a toddler, talking a mile a minute despite his still limited vocabulary and getting into everything.

Despite their differences, however, they were inseparable and Derek was pretty sure they would be the kind of insufferable people who finished each other’s sentences as soon as both of them could really talk.

Cora, who had never been a person who gushed about things, couldn’t stop marveling over her children, regaling Derek with new stories of their shenanigans during their weekly brother-sister-coffee-dates (or rather, tea-dates in Derek’s case) while his own children fought over who got to play with their younger cousins.

He and Stiles had often watched the twins when they had still been babies, allowing Cora, who was not unhappy raising the kids as a single-mother but really needed a break on occasion, to actually get some stuff done every now and then and after they had revealed the fact that they were having twins to the pack Cora had often joked that they should pay her for letting them practice with Finja and Jacob.

As he watched the twins charm their Uncle Scott into sneaking them another piece of birthday cake from the table Derek rested his hand on his belly with a smile, wondering if their children would be just like Cora’s kids: completely different in looks and personalities, but still an inseparable unit.

Stiles, who, like Derek, had come to accept that both of them were most likely werewolves, was confident that their babies would end up looking exactly like Derek, since both of their werewolf children took after their Papa, but when Derek dreamed of their babies he dreamed of a little werewolf girl with amber eyes, light brown hair, a sneaky grin, and little moles on her face.

Baby B, meanwhile, usually appeared to him as a tiny baby, swaddled in gender-neutral clothing and its tiny face hidden under a big hat. His subconscious was obviously not going to give him a hint either and though Derek was certain he could wait another month to find out, he would have lied if he had claimed that it didn’t vex him just a little that his instincts were still failing him with their second baby.

He had been so deep in thought that he almost missed his father-in-law approaching and he jumped when John sank down next to him onto the cushioned bench with a sigh.

He hadn’t seen John in almost two weeks and when he turned towards him he was a little worried to find deep circles under his eyes, smile quite obviously forced as he nodded at Derek.

Stiles’ father smelled off and Derek was torn between asking him what was wrong and breaking etiquette by taking a deep sniff to find out himself when a sound cut through the children’s happy laughter and the adults’ animated chatter, silencing everyone.

It was Lydia – and she was screaming.

 

===============

 

That night Lydia was devastated, feeling horrible for having ruined the birthday party, her eyes filled with a haunted look that Derek could hardly bear to see.

Stiles, meanwhile, was completely inconsolable, his face drawn and pale as he was curled up in a tight little ball on their bed and refused to speak.

Once Lydia’s scream had died down she had stared at the bench with tears in her eyes and Derek had taken that deep sniff after all, almost recoiling from the pungent smell of sickness coming from his father-in-law.

Melissa’s voice had been shaking as she had explained the report they had gotten from the doctor just that morning, the one that required John to have heart-surgery as soon as possible, and throughout her explanation Stiles had stared at his father in horror, shaking like a leaf and unable to speak.

Derek had heard the story of how Stiles’ mother had died, the story of the little boy who had watched over his mommy’s last breath, but he could have gone his entire life without actually having to see the look that had accompanied that horrible experience.

Stiles had dropped to his knees in front of his father, eyes begging him to say it wasn’t true, but Lydia’s scream was damning, reducing the chance of John actually surviving the complicated procedure to almost zero.

The former Sheriff had been upset as well, clearly having imagined this discussion to go differently and, most importantly, without all of his grandchildren present, half of which were old enough to understand what was going on.

There had been no use in hiding it from the children, not after Lydia’s scream, and as he stood in the hallway now Derek honestly didn’t know what to do.

He could hear Leonie crying softly, could hear Noah’s choked little sobs and Cas’ quick heartbeat and occasional whimpering, most likely caused by his family’s distress and not because he really understood the severity of the situation.

There were no sounds coming from Lydia in their guestroom but he could smell her anguish, her guilt, despair, and also her fear.

It was this fear that had him more on edge than anything else, the haunted look she had given him when he had brought her a calming cup of tea.

Banshee’s predicted death and Derek knew she hadn’t had a premonition in quite some time, but still, the way she had almost had to force herself to meet his eyes, seemingly not even aware that she was struggling, had scared him deeply.

For a fleeting moment he had wondered if it was _him_ she had been screaming for, if there was something about to go horribly wrong with the birth, but he had pushed these thoughts aside as soon as they had penetrated his mind, berating himself for even entertaining the idea for a fraction of a second.

With a shaky sigh Derek pushed the door to their bedroom open, closing it softly and turning towards Stiles, who hadn’t moved an inch since he had collapsed onto the covers.

He longed to comfort his children, their cries tearing at his heart, but his mate needed him more right now and he sank down on the mattress, maneuvering himself so he could stroke Stiles’ hair in soft, soothing motions.

After what felt like an eternity Stiles let out a loud wail and clung to him, burrowing his face against Derek’s neck and sobbing violently.

He could hear the small whine of distress that escaped Lydia, could hear their children crying even louder at the sound of their father’s pain, and for a while Derek just held him.

There was nothing he could have said that would have made the situation better, especially not “Maybe Lydia meant _me_ instead of your father,” and by the time Stiles fell asleep Derek felt completely drained and exhausted.

He fell into an uneasy sleep not long after, only to jerk awake at 3 in the morning, his heart thumping against his chest.

Stiles was still asleep and Derek forced himself to take slow, even breaths, using his senses to reach out to his entire family to calm himself down.

Leonie, Noah, and Cas were asleep but the babies seemed to be awake, their heartbeats as strong as ever as they moved around.

They were getting strong enough now to actually kick him awake at night but this time it hadn’t been the children’s kicks that had woken him.

He was pretty sure that it had been the dream instead, though he could no longer remember what it had been about.

Stiles made a soft noise in his sleep, almost like a sob, and Derek grasped his hand, stroking his mate’s knuckles with one hand while the other came to rest on his abdomen as he closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

That night, however, sleep no longer came.

 

==================

 

_August 28 th (36 Weeks)_

The surgery was scheduled to take place in the early morning hours of August 28th and after a long talk with Aiden Derek had decided to accompany Stiles to the hospital, while Jackson was watching their children at home.

There was no way he would have let Stiles sit in that waiting room without him and although he found the massively oversized hoodie Scott had picked up for him the day before to be extremely stifling, it was preferable to the alternative of freaking out the entire hospital.

The hoodie could have fit both him and Stiles and was doing a well enough job of hiding his undeniably pregnant shape, so Derek decided to take the heat in stride as best as he could as they sat down on the hard metal chairs in the waiting room.

Stiles hadn’t said anything since they had woken up a couple of hours earlier. He was deathly pale as he watched the minutes tick by on the large clock, but his grip on Derek’s hand was tight.

Stiles’ other hand was firmly intertwined with Scott’s, who had draped his other arm around his mother, and Derek knew that the True Alpha was also listening in to what was going on in the OR.

Ethan and Aiden were both working the morning shift and had stopped by twice already, bringing coffee each time.

Stiles had not touched his cup but Lydia, who had refused to go home to San Francisco and called in sick in order to stay in Beacon Hills and be there for her pack, had simply taken his as well.

Like Stiles she looked like she hadn’t slept in days and Derek’s heart went out to her, fully aware of how guilty she felt, even though there was no reason for her to do so.

The surgery was scheduled to last five hours and they were already two hours in when Derek began to fidget in earnest, in serious back pain and no longer able to sit on the hard chairs. He didn’t want to leave his mate alone but he desperately needed to move and so he slowly pushed himself up, hands kneading into his back as he began to slowly walk around the small room.

It was a testament to how devastated and out of his mind with worry Stiles was when he didn’t even acknowledge the pained look on his mate’s face, staring at the ground with unseeing eyes and occasionally shivering.

“Derek, honey, are you ok?”

Melissa’s voice sounded small and tired and Derek nodded, unwilling to worry his mother-in-law as he flashed her a tight smile.

He had just sat back down next to Stiles when the pain in his back got even worse, spreading around his entire midsection. He winced when he pressed his hand against his skin and felt his muscles cramping.

Out of all the moments his body had decided to send him through another round of Braxton Hicks contractions this was most certainly not the appropriate one, Derek thought with a grimace, rubbing his belly surreptitiously.

Stiles and Melissa were not paying him any attention but when he looked up he could feel both Scott’s and Lydia’s gazes on him, the former’s concerned and the latter’s decidedly scared.

He tried to smile at them, trying to get them to stop worrying, but found himself biting back a groan instead when another spasm set seemingly all of his nerve-endings aflame.

“Not now sweethearts,” he thought at his babies, slowly getting up again in the hope that maybe changing positions would stop the practice labor as it so often did and desperately trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut, the one that was telling him that this was more than just a normal Braxton Hicks contraction.

He had just made it to the center of the room when Scott suddenly inhaled sharply, shooting up from his chair and rushing towards him, his eyes wide as he stared at Derek.

“Derek you’re bleeding!” he gasped and before Derek could respond pain started licking up his spine, spreading through his body like a wildfire and causing his knees to buckle as he sank to the ground with a choked scream.

Scott’s strong hands caught him before he could fall in earnest and within seconds the True Alpha’s hands were replaced by his mate’s, Stiles’ formerly dull eyes sharp and panicked as he stared at Derek.

“Derek! What’s wrong, what’s happening?” he whispered and Derek tried to answer but found himself unable to breathe, too overcome with pain as it began to course through him again.

When he looked up next a very serious-faced Aiden was examining him, serious face turning into an almost grim expression when he whipped his head around and loudly said, “Ethan!”, foregoing the pager in favor of their supernatural senses.

“What’s going on?” Stiles yelled and Aiden bit out, “The babies are coming!” as he hooked his arms under Derek’s body and lifted him up from the floor.

The next minutes of movement were a blur to Derek, the pain simply too strong and blocking everything out.

When he was able to concentrate again he was half-naked and lying on an actual hospital bed, shaking against the sudden cold when Aiden began to examine him once more.

“Can’t we stop this? I was able to stop it with Noah!”

That was Scott, sounding just as scared as Derek felt and he bit back the whine forming in the back of his throat when Aiden shook his head and turned towards him, voice firm and authoritative as he spoke.

“Derek, I need you to listen to me. You have been in labor for at least a couple of hours and twins have a tendency to come early, we can’t stop this now, the process has already gone too far. I’m not going to take the risk of taking you to Deaton’s and Ethan just got off his shift so he is guarding the door and will be here to help once they get here, but I’m afraid you are going to have these babies right now.”

“But it’s too early!”

That was Stiles, the person, Derek slowly realized, who was gripping his hand like it was an anchor that led to safety, and Aiden nodded grimly.

“It _is_ too early, but there is nothing we can do about this now. They might have to spend a couple of days in the NICU but 36 weeks is not as bad as it could be, trust me, especially not if they’re werewolves. They’ll be small, but they sound strong and healthy, so what I need from you now is to support Derek, because he is almost completely dilated and this is not going to take long at all.”

“My Dad …” Stiles whispered and Scott grabbed his shoulder, squeezing tightly.

“They are still operating, he’s doing fine for the moment. Focus on your babies, I’ll tell you the minute I hear something, I promise!”

Once again Derek found himself losing focus and when he became aware of his surroundings again Scott was gone, probably keeping his mother company as they waited for news.

The pain came back, even stronger this time and he pressed his lips together, determined not to make a single sound as to not attract attention to what was going on.

He could hear Stiles tell him that it was ok, that he was allowed to scream, that they were in the basement and no one would be able to hear, but Derek couldn’t, too focused on keeping himself from drifting away again to have energy for anything else for the moment.

Time passed quickly, a blur of agony and exhaustion, and when he wasn’t laboring through a contraction he was squeezing his eyes shut, panting harshly, unable to do anything else. Stiles was a constant next to him, holding on to him tightly as he continued to talk to him, grounding him, despite Derek’s inability to respond.

It couldn’t have been more than an hour; two at the most, before Aiden announced him to be fully dilated, and when he did Derek forced himself to concentrate, focusing on the children.

He could feel their stress-level increasing as they shifted, one making way for the other and getting ready to be born.

From one second to the next Ethan was there as well, ready to receive their first baby to make sure it was ok and as he bore down Derek finally let out a scream, releasing not only the built-up pain but also some of the fear that had gripped him for days.

They were in an actual hospital, there were two trained doctors available to react quickly if there was a complication and twins came a little early all the time – they would be fine.

They had to be just fine.

It took three pushes and then suddenly the sounds of a screaming baby filled the room.

Aiden’s voice was steady when he declared, “It’s a girl!” and Derek smiled weakly, turning his head towards Stiles with some difficulty.

Stiles was staring at their daughter with an expression of complete love, his eyes shining brightly, and for a brief moment he seemed to have forgotten about his father when he kissed Derek’s forehead, whispering a choked “Thank you,” into his ear.

With Stiles’ help Derek pushed himself into a position that allowed him to actually see their baby and though his heart clenched at how small she was, his instincts were telling him that their child would be just fine.

Her cries were surprisingly strong considering they were coming out of such a tiny body and when Aiden placed the baby on his chest he inhaled deeply, soaking in the knowledge that she was strong, healthy – and human.

“Stiles!” he exclaimed, his throat so dry that it barely came out as a rasp and when Stiles turned towards him he whispered, “She’s human!”

Stiles’ eyes widened in wonderment before he broke out into a huge grin, stroking a shaking finger across their tiny daughter’s cheek as he bent over and kissed her little head.

“Your big brother is going to be so happy little one! I love you so much,” he breathed, holding out his arms for her and taking her from Derek when the werewolf’s muscles contracted again, gearing up to deliver their second baby into the world.

By the time the contraction was over Ethan had already begun to examine their daughter and Stiles had returned to his side, his eyes constantly flitting between his mate and their new baby-girl.

The next contraction came so quickly that it took Derek by complete surprise and he tried to scream, only to find that no sound was coming out. His skin suddenly felt clammy, his eyes were becoming unfocused and when it was over he fell back against the mattress, breaths coming out in harsh gasps as he tried to calm himself, wondering why he was suddenly feeling like all the walls were closing in on him.

He closed his eyes and tried to inhale deeply, focusing on his family’s familiar heartbeats to ground himself – and feeling like the world had come to a full stop when he realized that there was something missing.

 

==============

 

Stiles’ brain was in serious danger of shutting down, almost overwhelmed with the conflicting emotions that were tearing through him.

He was overjoyed that their tiny daughter was not only healthy but also human, could barely wait to see Noah’s face when they told him he had gotten his wish, but at the same time he was also scared and devastated. 

He had momentarily been able to forget about his father’s surgery, but now he could barely breathe when he thought about the likely fact that his father would not live to see his new grandchildren.

He was also starting to get scared for Derek, who looked like he was floating in and out of consciousness every other second, and as he turned towards him now there was an almost apathetic look in his mate’s uncharacteristically dull eyes, as if he was in a completely different world.

“Derek!” he said loudly, gripping his hand and squeezing tightly, willing him to come back to him and Derek blinked slowly, face becoming even more ashen as he gasped and finally turned towards Stiles.

“Stiles … I …”

Whatever he had wanted to say was drowned out by the sound of a door bursting open and for a moment Stiles’ heart stopped when he saw Scott, only to start shaking when he took in the expression on his best friend’s face.

Scott was grinning like a maniac.

“He made it Stiles! Your dad made it! He’s out of surgery and Mom spoke to his doctors and he’ll be just fine! He’ll be fine!”

For a brief, glorious moment Stiles was overwhelmed with relief but then Derek gripped his hand tightly, letting out a sound that stopped him cold.

Because he was still facing Scott he could see the smile drain away from his best friend’s face, could see the True Alpha’s expression morph into horror from the corner of his eye as he turned towards Derek, a thought screaming at him that had kept him awake at night ever since the party and that he had not shared with Derek for fear that if he actually said it out loud it might come true.

What if Lydia’s scream hadn’t been for his father … what if it had been for his mate?

Steeling himself he turned towards Derek, half-expecting him to be dying, and when he met his husband’s gaze all the breath was punched out from his lungs.

Derek barely spoke about the fire that had taken his family’s life, but on the rare occasions that he did his eyes became the proverbial window into his soul, the grief in them as horrible and palpable as a bleeding, gaping wound.

Stiles hated to see that grief in Derek’s eyes, would have done everything in his power to make sure he never saw that look again.

The fact that the look in Derek’s eyes was even _worse_ now actually made his knees buckle under him.

“Derek …” he pleaded, heart speeding up and voice breaking even as he tried to tell himself that it was not true, that there could not have been a third possible target for Lydia’s prediction.

When Derek answered he wasn’t looking at him but at Aiden and Ethan, voice barely above a whisper as he rasped “Do you hear … is it still …?” before breaking off into a heart-piercing, loud howl, answering his own question and tearing right into the center of Stiles’ being.

Derek’s grip on his hand was bruising now and yet Stiles almost felt like he was no longer in his body at all as he turned towards the doctors and his best friend.

He was _not_ seeing the shocked look on Ethan’s face, was _not_ watching the way Aiden’s lips were becoming a small line as he pressed them so tightly together that he was probably drawing blood, and he was _definitely_ not seeing the tears that were running down Scott’s cheeks.

Slowly, almost as if he wasn’t even aware of what he was doing, Aiden shook his head.

It was only a second that followed Aiden’s diagnosis, a long, torturous, terrible second that seemed to last for an eternity, weighed down heavily by the silence that had settled into the room.

Stiles wasn’t a werewolf but in that moment he might as well have been one, for it suddenly seemed to him as if the silence was so complete that he could actually hear the rapid heartbeats in the room.

All except for one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Up: Faced with the most horrible thing that could ever happen to a parent, Derek makes a choice. 
> 
>  
> 
> Trigger-Warning: Premature birth and serious complications (one baby's heart stops beating).


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Derek makes a choice. 
> 
> WARNING: this chapter includes an emergency c-section and though I tried to describe it as little graphic as possible, I would like you to keep that in mind.

“No!”

“Stiles, I’m sorry, I …”

“No!”

“We have to …”

“No!”

“Stiles, please, listen, we …”

“No!”

As his voice got progressively louder, Stiles briefly wondered if this was what going mad felt like.

He could see Scott step towards him, tears still streaming down his face, and Stiles recoiled from his best friend.

Accepting Scott’s comfort would have meant that it was real and Stiles had never been so far away from acceptance in his entire life.

“No! We are not sorry, you hear me? You are _not_ sorry, my baby is _not_ dead!”

There was a buzzing in his ears and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton as he turned towards Derek, desperate for him to say that it wasn’t true, his heart once again shattering into a million pieces when he saw the look in the older man’s eyes.

His mate was deathly pale, his eyes wide and lips moving silently, his hands roaming over his belly frantically.

Someone was making a horrible sound, a sound that reminded Stiles of a dying animal.

It wasn’t until Scott wrapped his arms around him that he realized the sound was coming from him.

Derek’s lips were still forming words, words that looked like ‘no’ and ‘please’ and ‘don’t’ and Stiles tore out of Scott’s embrace with a harsh gasp, whirling towards Ethan and Aiden.

“You have to dosomething! Damn it, don’t just stand there, _do_ something! Please, for the love of  … _please_!”

Aiden’s face was almost as ashen as Derek’s as he stepped forward, grabbing Derek’s restless hands and holding them tightly.

“Derek, listen, I have to get the baby out, ok? If there is _anything_ left to do, we don’t have much time and I have to be quick. I’m so sorry, but this is really going to hurt.”

Derek’s eyes were wide and his, “Stiles!” was less than a whisper, but Stiles heard it anyway.

When he grabbed his mate’s hand he could feel the tremors running through him and he inhaled deeply as he listened to Aiden’s barked instructions to keep Derek still, only barely aware that Scott had joined him, the True Alpha’s hands coming to rest upon Derek’s shoulders as he pushed him down onto the bed.

One moment later, Derek was screaming like Stiles had never heard him scream before and he could smell the metallic tang of blood, could hear the ripping of flesh as Aiden tore his mate open, his movements quick and jerky as he performed the emergency c-section.

Then it was over and once again the silence was deafening, threatening to choke Stiles as he tore his gaze away from Derek’s tear-streaked, sweaty face and looked at his baby.

His impossibly tiny, lifeless baby.

His beautiful, perfect little baby.

“Please …” he breathed, chest heaving as he stared at the infant.

“Please … do _something_!”

 

==================

 

_No_

The silence slammed into Derek like a sledgehammer, the once so familiar heartbeat no longer there.

_Please_

The grief was unlike he had ever felt, the howl punching out of him with such force that his vocal cords were straining against his throat.  

_Don’t_

Then there was Aiden, taking his hands, telling him something was going to hurt. Derek wanted to laugh.

How could he possibly hurt even more when his entire being consisted of pain already?

_No_

Stiles, Stiles was there with him, gripping his hand so tightly as if he had werewolf strength himself and Derek tried to cling to him, cling to sanity as he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Aiden’s claws, the new Alpha’s face nothing but determined as he sliced into his skin.

_Please_

There was not supposed to be silence. His baby was not supposed to be that silent, not supposed to be so still.

_Don’t_

Red, his baby should have been red, not blue, the cord wrapped around its slim neck like a chokehold.

_No_

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Derek was aware that he had another tiny baby to worry about, a baby who was whimpering brokenly, almost as if she was aware of what was going on, her cries partly muffled by the buzzing sound in Derek’s ears and the soothing whispers of Melissa.

Derek hadn’t even noticed Scott’s mother coming in.

_Please_

Stiles was pushing his hands against his abdomen, trying to stem the bleeding caused by the claws of an Alpha, and for a moment Derek wondered if it was normal that he wasn’t even feeling any pain at all from the wound now.

_Don’t_

He was, quite possibly, going into shock, a thought that came to him with almost surprising clarity.

_No_

Aiden, Ethan, and Scott were crowding around the baby, black tendrils racing up their arms as they tried to reverse the irreversible, shielding it from view.

_Please_

Didn’t they know what they were doing to him, cutting off his sense of sight now that he could no longer hear the child’s comforting heartbeat?

He needed to see it; he needed to reassure himself it was still there, that there was still hope.

The only connection he had left was his sense of smell and even that was fading, the child’s sweet baby smell wafting away as its body became colder.

It would have been a little werewolf.

_Don’t_

His instincts were going completely crazy.

They couldn’t touch his baby.

He had to protect it.

Derek growled.

Barely audible to human ears …

Yet loud and clear to werewolves.

_No, Please Don’t Be Dead_

===================

 

Stiles flinched when the strangled sound escaped Derek’s lips, his mate’s eyes looking almost feral as he stared at the other werewolves in the room and both other Alphas jerked away instantly, revealing a devastated Ethan.

The pediatrician was cradling the baby carefully; his veins still black against his skin as he tried to leach the unbearable wrongness away.

Derek made that strangled sound again and Scott’s voice sounded broken when he breathed “Give it to him,” the defeat evident in his eyes.

Gently, as if he was carrying a porcelain doll, Ethan placed the baby in Derek’s arms and Stiles could feel a silent scream bubbling up inside him as his eyes switched between the living baby in Melissa’s arms – he had no idea when she had come in, but he was fiercely glad she was there – and the still baby in Derek’s.

Yes, this was definitely what going mad felt like.

His hands were still pushing down the sheet against Derek’s skin and he was at once painfully aware of how drenched it was.

He didn’t need to look at either his blood-soaked hands or the ashen complexion of his mate’s face to know that he wasn’t healing.

Stiles almost wanted to laugh – there was no way they could _ever_ possibly heal from this.

“Derek,” he whispered, tears spilling from his eyes when his mate didn’t even acknowledge him.

There was movement in the background and he could hear Ethan’s frantic mumbling, could see Aiden shaking his head violently out of the corner of his eyes.

“Derek!” Stiles repeated, voice cracking but much more urgent now.

He wasn’t ready to accept the loss of his child yet, wondered if he would ever be ready, but there was no way he was going to lose Derek, too.

“Derek,” he said yet again, gasping in fear when he felt another spurt of blood coating his fingers.

The twins were still arguing, joined by Scott, who was clearly on Ethan’s side.

Stiles doubted that it mattered.

“Please, Derek, love, Aiden needs to help you!”

He reached forward to take the baby from Derek but his mate shook his head frantically, eyes finally meeting Stiles’.

“No, please don’t,” he whispered and that was it, the last of Stiles’ self-control finally crumbling as he could feel his entire being collapse like a card house, doubling over with the sheer force of his grief.

Suddenly there were hands on his shoulders; a frantic voice in his ear and it wasn’t until he heard Scott say the word ‘hope’ that he snapped to attention.

Then it was suddenly the only thing on his mind.

 

===============

 

Scott had never felt so helpless in his entire life, all of his instincts screaming at him to do something as he listened for the sound that wasn’t there, the heartbeat that had been so strong only an hour ago.

He stared in despair as Aiden tore his claws into Derek, letting out a broken whine when he saw the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck.

A horrified gasp sounded from his right and he shot out his hand, stopping his mother from rushing towards Derek.

“What’s happening Scott? Lydia just started screaming and then she collapsed and I was going to get you and oh my god, _what is happening_?” his mother rushed out, the medical professional in her fighting against Scott’s strong hold when she, too, noticed the position of the cord.

Then Ethan was in front of them, holding out the whimpering baby-girl whose arrival had seemingly been wiped from her parents’ mind and Melissa took her, eyes wide and lips shaking as she stared at the still child in Aiden’s hands.

Black tendrils were running up his arm even as he handed the child to his brother and Scott shook his head to clear his mind, taking a deep breath before he joined the twins, the three of them pouring all of their healing powers into the tiny body.

He hadn’t even realized they were completely blocking Derek’s view until Derek growled, and if he hadn’t been so weak Scott would have been reasonably certain that Derek would have actually tried to rip their throats out to get to his baby, his wolf completely in control now as he stared at them in an almost feral way.

He shared a look with Aiden and when the other Alpha closed his eyes in defeat Scott exhaled sharply.

“Give it to him,” he instructed Ethan, a sob tearing through him as he watched Derek cradle the child, his blood still soaking Stiles’ hands.

He was about to take a step towards his best friend, desperately wanting to offer comfort in a situation where comfort was near impossible, when Ethan’s words stopped him in his tracks.

“There is still one thing we can try!”

Scott whipped around, startled, his eyes fixed on Aiden’s face when the Alpha growled.

“Are you insane? Do you not see that wound? He’s not letting himself heal at all and even if he _was_ healing right now, he’d still be too weak to even try!”

“It worked with the Alpha of the Wellington Pack!” Ethan replied heatedly and Aiden narrowed his eyes.

“The Alpha of the Wellington Pack was in prime fighting condition when she did it! This is not a matter of “It might work or not, no harm done”, this could kill him!” he hissed and Scott stepped towards them, aware that he was getting way too close into their personal space but not caring in the slightest.

“What could kill him?” he demanded and Ethan stared at him, his gaze pleading.

“There’s a chance that Derek can save the baby,” he said, glaring at his twin when Aiden snarled.

“There’s a chance that Derek can _die_ while trying to save his baby!” he protested, looking at Scott with a grim expression on his face.

“A couple of years ago we ran into a pack that had been attacked by a group of hunters. They had used some strange form of wolfsbane bullet on the Alpha’s brother and he was dying, no chance of healing. The Alpha used her healing powers to save him, only she had to use so much energy that she ended up sacrificing her Alpha status. Don’t ask me how it worked, but it did. They both survived, but she was severely weakened by it and she was healthy and unharmed when she attempted it. Derek is not, the risk is too great; he’s not dying on my watch, too!”

Ethan growled in frustration.

“And I can’t stand here, knowing that there was something we could have done and not doing it! He _has_ to try!” he argued and Scott turned around again, taking in the destroyed look on both fathers’ faces.

When he faced the twins next his expression was determined.

“Stiles will never forgive us if we tell Derek and he doesn’t survive. But Derek will never forgive us if we keep this from him. If there’s even the slightest chance we can save the baby then we have to try!” he decided, nodding at Ethan to join him as he approached Stiles.

“Stiles, buddy, listen to me, there’s still hope!”

 

==================

 

“No!”

“Stiles …”

“Absolutely not!”

“Stiles ...”

“No Derek, no! I can’t you lose you, too, I can’t!”

Stiles’ face was pale and grim but Derek suddenly looked more energetic than he had ever since the ordeal had begun, a determination in his eyes that was almost scary.

He was still bleeding, still much too pale to be able to offer reassurances to his mate, but whatever stupor he had been in since Ethan had placed the baby in his arms seemed to have disappeared completely, his eyes clearer than ever as he looked at Stiles.

“Stiles, please, I need you to be ok with this,” he whispered and Stiles lurched forward, framing Derek’s face with his hands.

“Please Derek, don’t ask me to stand by and watch you die, I can’t do it, not after all this, it’ll kill me, do you understand me? I can’t watch you die, I will not watch you die, please don’t ask me to!”

“I have to,” Derek said, the grief in his voice overpowered by determination as he looked down at the prone little body in his arms.

“Stiles,” he whispered, voice so quiet that Stiles had to lean forward to hear him.

“I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t try.”

Stiles dropped their foreheads together, tears spilling out of his eyes and dripping onto Derek’s cheeks as he inhaled shakily.

“And what about me? How am I supposed to live with myself if I have to bury you both?”

“You won’t have to,” Derek said quietly, his eyes pleading with Stiles to trust him and Stiles let out a pained whine.

22 years with Derek, 22 eventful, occasionally frustrating, yet overall fucking perfect years with Derek had taught Stiles more than he could have ever dreamed possible about the man who had given him everything and more and he knew he was fighting a losing battle, knew that Derek’s mind was set, that there was nothing he could say to stop him.

A part of him wanted to scream, rage at Derek, shake reason into him and keep him from making a big mistake that would end up costing not only himself but also his mate and their children … their _children_ , who needed their papa even more than Stiles needed his mate.

The other part, the one that had been falling apart ever since his second baby’s heart had stopped beating, was ecstatic, almost breathless with hope that their child could live after all and when he looked at Derek’s face he could see the same hope reflected in his green eyes, eyes that had been so dull and lifeless just moments before.

His mate had never denied him anything – it was about time to return the favor.

Even if it was likely going to end up destroying him completely.

“I love you,” he said brokenly, taking a step back to give his mate room, despite all of his instincts urging him to stop this madness.

Derek smiled, the first real smile Stiles had seen on his face ever since Lydia’s initial scream.

“I know.”

When Derek focused his attention on the baby the energy in the room was tangible, almost choking Stiles as he didn’t dare look at their child, chastising himself for hoping against hope.

Instead, his gaze was fixed on Derek, his breath taken away when the Alpha red burned through his mate’s eyes, much brighter than Stiles had ever seen it before.

Derek’s mouth opened in a silent scream, his arms lined with pulsating black trails as he gasped, inhaled, finally let out a roar.

Because he couldn’t tear his eyes away from his mate Stiles could tell the exact moment that Derek’s own eyes changed their color, the Alpha red bleeding away only to be replaced with a warm amber that Stiles had never seen on Derek’s face before.

He had barely a second to marvel at it before Derek’s eyes slipped shut, his features relaxing as the tension bled out of his body, his grip on the child loosening.

Automatically, Stiles rushed forward, catching the baby before it could fall and cradling it to his chest, eyes not focused on the still lifeless child but on his mate, who was no longer moving.

For a moment, Stiles could feel the total silence in the room slicing into him, his entire body shaking as he gasped for air.

Then, there was movement.

And then, finally, the cursed silence was broken.

 

==================

 

There were three heartbeats in the room with him – four if he counted his own. One was that of an adult, an adult who smelled beyond exhausted but happy, love pouring out of him in waves and rolling over Derek’s skin like a soft sponge.

The other two belonged to two children, two really small children, infants in fact, barely more than a day old.

Like the adult they smelled like pack, more, they smelled like home and family.

One was a human and when it made a little noise of protest and waved its little arms its smell reminded Derek of a flower.

The other was a little werewolf and its scent almost overwhelmed Derek with the urge to protect it against everything.

He wanted to protect them both.

Which, all in all, was really not surprising considering they were his children.

Who were alive – both of them.

His bones felt weightless as he slowly became aware of the rest of his surroundings.

He was home, in his own bed, the soft murmuring of the adult, his mate, slowly forming into sentences.

Talking – Stiles was talking to the children, both of them nestled in his arms and for a while Derek was content to just listen to him, certain that he wouldn’t have been able to form words even if he had tried.

“… so you see Puppies, I’m a really silly Daddy. I’m sure your big sister will tell you soon enough but I thought it was best to get it out of the way. Oh, also, when Papa wakes up don’t tell him I’ve been calling you Puppies, too, you’re not technically our puppies but our cubs, it’s just that puppies is cuter in plural, you know?”

Stiles’ voice was soft and Derek could hear his smile even as he continued to speak.

“Your papa is probably going to be a little confused when he wakes up. You see, he just did something truly incredible but he had to give up a big part of himself to do it. I almost didn’t let him, but I’m really glad that I didn’t stop him, because if I had we would all be in a very bad place right now. We aren’t though and it’s all because of your Savior Wolf Papa.”

Their werewolf baby yawned and Stiles’ voice choked up a little.

“If you are like me you’ll probably be very curious about what happened when you were born and you’ll ask all kinds of questions but please don’t be mad at Daddy if I can’t tell you Puppy, because Daddy has decided to never think about this ever again. All that matters is that you are here little one and we are just … we’re not … see, Daddy’s crying already, nope, it’s not going to work, we are never talking about those moments again. We’ll have so much else to talk about though Puppies, we have all of our lives to talk about anything and everything. I’ll even talk to you about the scary things, I promise, though I really won’t like it.”

There was a little smacking sound and Stiles chuckled.

“Are you hungry again baby-girl? No? Yes? You don’t really look like Papa – or me for that matter – but I swear you inherited the growly face from him. Don’t tell him I said this either, but yours is much cuter! I can understand you though, I wouldn’t be happy with formula either if I could have the real thing but you see, Uncle Aiden doesn’t think the real thing’s going to work anymore, now that Papa is no longer an Alpha. That’s ok though, that means I can help much more during all the night-feedings and you’ll be just fine, Uncle Ethan will make sure of it.”

There was a little rustling and Derek cracked open one eye, a soft smile tugging at his lips when he saw Stiles press a soft kiss to their human daughter’s forehead, still a little bent out of shape by her journey through the birth-canal, before he turned to their second child.

“You on the other hand remind me of your oldest brother quite a bit. I guess that means you’re going to look like me when you get older. Your brother will be so happy when he sees that, he’ll love having a sibling that looks like him! You don’t know me very well yet, but you’ll find out that I have really strange ideas sometimes. Back in Middle School for example, back when I still had a very big crush on your Aunt Lydia, I wanted to be a girl for a while. She wasn’t paying attention to me as a guy so I figured, hey, if I was a girl I could at least be friends with her and get make-up tips from her and have sleep-overs and ... yeah, no, on second thought, you don’t need to know that. Anyways, I annoyed your Uncle Scotty with that fantasy for weeks and he finally said I would have been a very pretty girl because he was hoping that would shut me up … and because he’s just physically capable of actually insulting someone he cares about. Or anyone for that matter. So guess what little mini-me – now I finally get to find out if Uncle Scott was right!”

Derek couldn’t stop the chuckle that escaped his lips and when he opened his eyes fully this time Stiles was beaming at him with watery eyes, standing up and carrying the children over so Derek could finally hold them both.

His abdomen was very sore where Aiden’s claws had torn into him, his healing-rate even more reduced by the fact that he was no longer an Alpha, but Derek couldn’t find it in himself to care as he cradled them both, flashing Stiles a grateful smile when his mate propped some extra pillows behind his back.

“Another baby girl?” he asked, eyes never leaving his sleeping children’s faces and Stiles smiled softly.

“Well, you were right on the money with Baby A being a little werewolf girl, but yes, Baby B not only tricked us by being born first but also by being a little human, just like her big brother. She’s a little trickster baby after all.”

He kissed Derek’s temple and for a while no one said anything.

When Derek spoke next his voice sounded stronger, yet very serious.

“You couldn’t have stopped me Stiles,” he said and Stiles sighed.

His heart rate was speeding up even thinking about it and Derek nuzzled his shoulder comfortingly.

“I had to do it. Knowing that I could have done something and not having done it would have killed me.”

Stiles nodded.

“I know Derek. To be honest, I would have done the same thing. I love you.”

Derek smiled.

“I love _you_.”

Stiles sighed softly, his finger tracing over their werewolf baby’s arm absentmindedly.

“Are you alright though? With the whole not being an Alpha anymore thing? Because you’re not anymore, I could see your eyes changing.”

Derek nodded.

“It doesn’t matter. Scott will be fine without me. And besides … it was a small price to pay for our daughter’s life.”

In response, Stiles tucked his face into the crook of Derek’s neck wordlessly.

A moment later Derek could feel his mate’s silent tears dripping onto his skin and again the only sound in the room was the soft sounds of their babies.

“How is your father?” Derek asked after a while, his heart feeling just a bit lighter when he could feel Stiles’ mouth curve into a smile.

“He is just fine … a little weak but fine. We haven’t told him about what happened yet, we figured that might be a bit too much for someone recovering from heart surgery, but I thought I’d maybe show him some pictures tomorrow.”

Derek nodded, wincing when he readjusted the babies and his abdomen throbbed even worse.

“That’s going to take a while to heal, isn’t it?” he muttered and Stiles nodded, stroking his hair in sympathy.

“Everything had to go so fast and Aiden might have torn you up a little more than he would have had we not all been frantic at that point. He says this would have taken at least a day even as an Alpha, but since you changed back into a Beta you might be looking at a 72 hours healing period? Give or take?”

Derek nodded in confirmation.

“That sounds about right,” he agreed, bending over slightly so he could kiss both girls’ foreheads.

“Do they have names yet?” Derek asked and Stiles shook his head.

“I wasn’t going to name them while you were still unconscious my love. I’ve actually got two suggestions that I would love to run by you though,” he said and Derek leaned against his chest, nodding in anticipation.

“Let’s start with our little first-born twin. Do you remember the name of the flower I told you about two weeks ago? I’d still like it to be her middle name, but I was wondering … do you think two flower names would be pushing it? It’s just, she kind of smells like a flower to me.”

Derek nodded – he had, after all, noticed that almost immediately after waking up.

“Do you want to name her Lily?” he asked almost automatically and Stiles shook his head.

“I thought about it, but she just doesn’t smell like a Lily to me. Not that that just sounded weird at all. No, she actually reminds me of a …”

“She smells like a Daisy to me actually,” Derek supplied gently, smiling softly when Stiles made a face.

“I know, I thought so, too, but we can’t name her Daisy. When I hear Daisy I think of Daisy Duck and I _really_ don’t want her to grow up behaving like that.”

Derek chuckled, then flinched, giving his mate a half-hearted glare.

“Please don’t make me laugh, laughing hurts like a bitch,” he winced and Stiles placed a warm, soft hand on the unharmed part of Derek’s belly, lightly stroking in apology.

“It’s a valid point Derek, you have to agree.”

“I agree wholeheartedly. You do know there are different types of daisies right? The seaside daisy, the Moroccan daisy, the Shasta daisy, the Marguerite daisy …”

“Marguerite?”

Stiles smiled, looking at their human daughter and stroking her head softly.

“Would you like that little one? Marguerite? Are you our little Maggie?”

Their baby turned her head towards her father, opening her eyes slowly and blinking twice before she fell back asleep.

“I think that was a yes,” Derek noted and Stiles grinned.

“You really think so?”

Derek smiled. “She’s obviously our Maggie, can’t you see that? And it works with her middle name, too.”

Stiles nodded.

“That it does. Marguerite Amaryllis Hale.”

Derek nodded.

“Marguerite Amaryllis Hale.”

He smiled down at Maggie, who had started suckling on her arm in her sleep.

“In a little while you are going to wake up and scream bloody murder because you are hungry again, aren’t you?” he asked and Stiles nodded.

“Lydia helped me feed them some formula earlier and I think they were rather unimpressed.”

Derek, who remembered Stiles’ earlier comment, couldn’t help the sadness clouding his features for a moment and Stiles backtracked immediately, looking concerned.

“I didn’t mean it that way … they’ll love being bottle-fed, some of my best friends were bottle-fed and they turned out to be great people, they’ll …”

“Stiles. It’s ok. Small price to pay.”

Stiles sighed.

“You might have some colostrum left but I’m afraid there won’t be anything after that. I mean, there might, Aiden wasn’t a hundred percent sure and Deaton’s looking into it right now, but well, you were still pretty torn up when you reverted back to being a Beta and Aiden says he could see the uterus basically go poof and disappear when the change was complete so I’m afraid the chances that you can feed our daughters are slim to none.”

“Go _poof_? I always told you it was a magical uterus,” Derek smiled, turning his attention towards their werewolf daughter.

“Hey baby,” he breathed and Stiles gently took Maggie from him, nuzzling her little head as he watched Derek acquaint himself with the child they had almost lost, scenting her while his eyes were brimming with tears.

His mate wasn’t speaking but his eyes were saying everything and it felt like an eternity before Derek finally tore his gaze away from their baby, smiling at Stiles and voice shaking only a little bit when he asked “What’s her name?”

Stiles’ grin was just enough on the side of sheepish that Derek stared at him suspiciously.

“What?” he asked, tone suggesting that he was clearly expecting the worst and Stiles chuckled.

“Well … I’m pretty sure Leo-Pie bribed her brothers into supporting her Pippilotta-campaign so I was actually going to suggest the name Carlotta for a second girl, you know, so they’d get something that’s at least a little bit similar but now …” he trailed off, a blush spreading over his face.

“Yes?”

“Do you remember that time I forced you to watch _Battlestar Galactica_?”

Derek blinked. That train of thought had obviously taken him by surprise.

“Yes?” he repeated and Stiles shrugged.

“I mean, I know your stance on popular culture inspired names and I know Cas is a Cas because we thought he was our last and I didn’t really have much input with the other two and you love me and I’m just the most grateful man in the fucking universe to have you, but you know, the name also means ‘Beloved’ and …”

“You want to name her Kara? After that blonde pilot that came back from the dead?”

Stiles nodded, a soft smile stretching his lips.

“Well it’s not just that, she was also pretty kick-ass and really, _really_ important to the storyline but even without that, as I said, Kara means ‘beloved – well technically if it’s spelled with a C and pronounced in Italian or Latin I guess – and when I thought I would never be able to tell her how much we love her I just … you know …”

Derek smiled sadly. “I know.”

His expression brightened when he stroked their daughter’s cheek, studying her features carefully.

“I like it. Kara Hale. And if we spell it with a ‘K’ it won’t even look like we tried naming her after Cora and just misspelled her name,” Derek said gently, the warmth in his eyes betraying the teasing nature of his words and Stiles winced.

“Awww crap, I didn’t even think about that. Kara and Cora … we can’t really do that then, can we?”

Derek raised his eyebrows.

“You know, I came up with all these rules about baby-naming back in the day, but they are _our_ babies ... if we want to name our beloved daughter Kara, a Kara she’ll be. And besides,” he added, smile widening when he winked at his mate.

“If all else fails we’ll just call her Starbuck.”

“Yeah, we are _so_ not doing that, Starbuck also refers to the original character and no daughter of mine will be named after a misogynist!”

Stiles shook his head fondly, looking at their youngest with a gentle smile.

“So we can really name her Kara then? Because I’ve got to be honest, I’ve been calling her Kara for hours already.”

“Hey Kara … we love you very much,” Derek said in reply, nudging Kara’s hand with his finger and smiling proudly when their sleeping baby grabbed his finger on instinct.

“Any ideas for a middle name? Maybe another sci-fi heroine since we named her sister after two flowers?” he teased his mate and Stiles laughed softly.

“Well, Kara Carlotta Hale could work?” he suggested and Derek shook his head.

“I don’t know … that doesn’t feel right.”

“Kara Lupita Hale?” Stiles was grinning mischievously now and Derek rolled his eyes.

“Really Stiles? _Really_?”

“You are simply no fun Derek my love,” the human scoffed and Derek raised his eyebrows.

“It’s not that I’m extremely opposed to a name that honors her werewolf heritage, I just don’t want it to be _that_ obvious,” he explained and Stiles stroked Maggie’s cheek, smiling down at their sleeping human daughter.

“What do you think your sissy’s middle name should be, Maggie? Do you think Daddy should suggest the Greek word he googled when he realized that last night was a new moon and discovered that new moon means Neoma in Greek, which would go really well with Kara?”

Derek made an intrigued sound.

“Kara Neoma Hale?”

“Kara Neoma Hale,” Stiles confirmed proudly, grinning from ear to ear when Kara made a little cooing noise in Derek’s arms.

“Did you hear that? She said yes!”

Derek’s grin matched his own when he simply whispered, “It seems like she did.”

Stiles was about to say something else when Maggie started making small noises of distress and he placed her back in Derek’s arms, making sure that she was close to her twin sister.

His eyes were once again filling with tears when their daughter quieted down immediately.

“I know she’s not a werewolf but it’s as if she knows something terrible almost happened. She’s been extremely vocal and disapproving about being separated from Kara so far,” he explained and Derek swallowed, resting his head against Stiles’ shoulder when the human wrapped him up in an embrace.

“We’re going to be ok, right? I mean, our daughters are alive; granted, they are really tiny but Ethan says they are both healthy and strong and he says Kara’s healing kicked in as soon as she started breathing again, so she’ll be just fine. So we’ll be ok, right? You’ll be ok, right?”

Derek sighed.

“We’ll be ok. The wolf might be a little … irrationally overprotective for a while. I’ll try to control it but ... that is a thing that could happen,” he said softly and Stiles nodded, as if he had expected that answer.

“As you very well know, I have an intrinsic understanding when it comes to being overprotective. But we’ll figure this out. We always do,” he said quietly, gently kissing his werewolf’s dry lips and resting their foreheads together.

After that, no more words were necessary.

 

================

 

Derek would forever be grateful to Jackson who, upon receiving a call from an exhausted Aiden, had packed up Leonie, Noah, and Cas and taken them home with him, allowing Derek some time to recover and making it possible for him and his mate to bond with the babies, making sure they were really going to be ok after the ordeal of their traumatic birth.

In the afternoon of August 30th, however, neither Derek nor Stiles could wait to introduce the twins to their older siblings any longer and forty minutes later Aiden’s car stopped in the driveway.

Derek was holding a baby in each arm when the door to the master bedroom opened and Noah and Cas tiptoed into the room, the look on both boys’ faces a mixture of excitement and awe.

“Puppies!” Cas exclaimed happily, dutifully clapping a hand over his mouth when Stiles made a soft “Shhh” sound, gesturing towards the sleeping babies.

“Do you want to come meet your sisters?” Derek asked gently and their sons grinned brightly, almost tripping over each as they rushed towards the bed.

“Be careful boys, Papa is still a little sore and your sisters are very tiny, we have to be gentle with them,” Stiles said and Noah nodded seriously, joining Cas on the bed as the boys knelt down on either side of Derek, their gazes fixed on their new sisters.

“Wolf!” Cas said in wonderment, his nose hovering over Kara as he took a tentative sniff.

“Baby-Wolf!” he clarified and Derek nodded, leaning over to kiss his younger son’s tussled head.

“Her name is Kara,” he explained and Cas made an intrigued little huff that, to Derek, sounded like tentative approval.

“That’s a pretty name Papa,” Noah said, his eyes a little wistful as he hesitantly reached out his hand and stroked Maggie’s arm.

“It’s ok that they are both werewolves, I don’t mind,” he soldiered on bravely, almost but not quite succeeding in keeping the hint of disappointment out of his voice.

Before Derek could correct his assumption, Cas was already shaking his head, his eyes wide as he stared at Maggie.

“Not a wolf, Noah. Smells like you!” he beamed at his brother and Noah’s eyes widened almost comically.

“Really Papa?” he whispered, almost as if he was afraid to believe it.

Derek would from now until the end of time blame the hormones for making him tear up when he saw the joy in Noah’s face as he nodded, instructing Noah to support her tiny head when he placed Maggie in his waiting arms.

“This is Marguerite, but Daddy thinks she looks like a Maggie,” he said and when Noah grinned at him he looked even more like Stiles than usual, the excitement brightening up his entire face.

“I’m not the only human baby anymore,” Noah breathed, his eyes shining when he turned his head towards Stiles.

“Look Daddy, I got a human sister!”

“And a werewolf sister who looks just like you and me,” Stiles confirmed proudly, his grin matching that of his son when Noah’s eyes almost boggled out of their sockets.

“Leonie! Look!” he exclaimed and both fathers turned towards Aiden and Leonie, who had just stepped into the room.

Leonie looked like she hadn’t slept in two days and when Stiles got up from the bed and held out his arms she flew into them, clinging to her human father as if her life depended on it and sobbing into his chest.

Stiles exhaled slowly, one arm wrapped around her shoulders and the other hand stroking her hair in soothing motions, calmly waiting for the storm to pass.

“Leo-Pie, look, the Puppies!” Cas tried, his face a mask of confusion as he stared at his inconsolable older sister but Leonie just wailed louder, her shoulders shaking as she continued to hold on to Stiles.

Sighing, Stiles glance at Derek, who looked like he was trying to hold back tears himself.

They had been expecting a reaction like this, since Jackson had called the evening before to warn them, sounding guilty and chagrined as he explained that Leonie had accidentally overheard (though, if Stiles knew his oldest at all, eavesdropping would have probably been a better term) Aiden telling Jackson the entire story of the birth, including the near-loss of her sister and the tense minutes in which no one had been sure if Derek in his weakened state would actually survive giving up his Alpha powers.

His mate’s heartbeat had quickly normalized and the color had returned to his face soon after, but Stiles was determined, he was definitely never thinking about that day ever again.

Stiles had already spent half an hour on the phone with his oldest the night before, reassuring her again and again that everybody was fine now, that her sisters were perfect and that Derek was healing, but seeing them for the first time had obviously been a little too much for her to handle.

“Why is Leo-Pie crying?” Cas asked Derek, his face still crunched up in confusion, and Derek used his free hand to draw him closer, ruffling his hair.

“Your sister is just happy that the babies are finally here,” he tried and now Noah looked confused, too, clearly not buying this explanation.

“Leo-Pie? Can you come here for a second?” Derek asked and Leonie disentangled herself from Stiles with another sob.

Smiling, Derek indicated for Cas to make room for her and Leonie climbed on the bed gingerly, clearly afraid of touching Derek and hurting him accidentally, her gaze flitting between the baby in his arms and his belly, where the incision Aiden had made was still hurting.

Stiles shared a proud smile with Derek when their daughter hesitantly pressed her fingertips against his side, drawing out a bit of the pain instantly and Derek allowed her to for just a few moments, aware that her instincts wouldn’t let her rest if she didn’t.

“I’m ok Leo-Pie,” he promised, reaching for her hand and gripping it tightly.

“Noah is holding Maggie, but would you like to hold Kara?”

Leonie’s eyes widened in fear as she stared at him.

“I don’t want to hurt her, she’s so small,” she whispered and Derek shook his head, moving slowly as he placed Kara in Leonie’s arms.

“She’s sturdier than she looks, just be careful with her head,” he assured her, nodding towards Aiden, who had stepped closer.

“Are you guys going to give me a little room so I can check on your Papa?” he asked and Stiles reached out for Cas, setting him on his hips and distracting him so he wouldn’t look when Aiden carefully lifted Derek’s shirt to inspect the wound, mindful to keep the sheet between him and their children’s field of vision.

“This looks good, I am very pleased,” he decided, dropping the shirt and sitting down next to Noah.

“Look Uncle Aiden, I have a sister who is human and one that looks just like me!” Noah told him proudly, obviously excited to share that information, and Aiden grinned.

“You are absolutely right Noah,” he confirmed, nudging his shoulder as he leaned over him to inspect Maggie’s features.

“That one definitely answers any questions anyone has ever had about what would have happened if your Daddy had been a little girl, but I am very undecided about this one,” he mused, critically looking between Derek and Stiles.

Stiles laughed.

“I know. One minute I think she looks like me, one minute I think she looks like Derek. She’s gorgeous though, like _all_ of my kids,” he decided, beaming proudly once more.

“Speaking of all the kids,” Aiden said, looking at Derek questioningly.

“There are two little kids and their parents downstairs who arrived with us and would like to give something to you.”

“Didn’t Cora say she wanted to come by tomorrow?” Stiles asked Derek and Derek nodded; his confused frown lifting when he paid attention and caught the scent of their visitors.

“Aren’t you four supposed to be in the Bahamas right now?” he asked when Erica and Boyd tiptoed into the bedroom, Erica carrying Channing and Polly riding on Boyd’s shoulders.

Erica shook her head.

“I thought I made it clear 8 years ago … no one in their right mind would go on vacation if what they really needed to do was be with their family,” she said, tone gentle when her eyes flickered towards the babies.

“You didn’t have to,” Derek said softly and Boyd cleared his throat, his expression open and earnest as he stared at Derek.

“We didn’t. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t the right thing to do. And besides,” he added, seriousness lifting from his voice when he nodded at Channing.

“My son here has a present for the newest members to our pack.”

Stiles slapped his forehead, grinning at Channing as the three-year old jumped out of his mother’s arms and stepped closer, holding a wrapped box.

“But it’s _your_ birthday Channing, you don’t need to give other people gifts on your birthday!”

Channing, in all of his Boyd-patented seriousness, shook his head.

“I got presents at my party. Babies had their birthday, too, but no one gave them presents!”

Erica shook her head with a smile, sitting down next to Leonie on the bed so she could get a better look at Kara.

“He has been very concerned about that. We think it’s because we just celebrated his and Polly’s birthday and he is still in presents-mode.”

Derek smiled at her, wincing a little when he readjusted his position.

“Does it still hurt?” Erica asked, concerned, and Derek, who had helped her deliver Channing via C-Section three years ago and knew that she could sympathize better than anyone in the room, nodded.

“I’ll feel better soon enough,” he said, smiling gratefully when Boyd wordlessly sat down next to him and pressed his fingers against his arm, careful to keep Polly from jumping on Derek’s sore muscles.

“Presents now?” Channing asked, sounding a bit impatient now and Stiles grinned, holding out his hand.

“Can me and Cas open it for the babies?” he asked and Channing nodded, watching Stiles carefully.

Inside the package were two little stuffed toys, a plushy wolf, and a soft ragdoll.

“That’s wonderful, thank you,” Stiles said, lifting up the toys for the entire family to see.

“Which belongs to whom?” he asked and Channing looked as unimpressed as only a three year old could.

“Easy. Wolf is for human baby and doll is for wolf baby,” he said, crawling on Erica’s lap and snuggling into her contentedly.

“That’s very thoughtful of you Channing,” Derek said, looking at Erica and Boyd questioningly.

Erica grinned.

“Well, we thought they might get a little lonely out here if they have to start sleeping on their own and so we figured we’d reestablish the parameters they are used to.”

Stiles leaned over and kissed her cheek, ruffling Channing’s hair at the same time.

“You guys are awesome!” he declared, his voice sounding a little thick.

“And don’t you forget it,” Erica replied gently, grinning when Channing reached up and ruffled Stiles’ hair back in return.

“Now that these two lovelies have been properly welcomed with presents, care to tell us their names?”

Derek nodded.

“Noah is holding Marguerite Amaryllis, but I’m pretty sure she’ll be a Maggie. Leonie is holding Kara Neoma,” he explained and Boyd cocked his head, raising his eyebrows in intrigue.

“Neoma? Where did that one come from?” he asked and Stiles smiled.

“They were born under a new moon and Neoma means new moon in Greek,” he explained; grin turning into a frown when Erica exploded in laughter.

“What?!” Stiles exclaimed, crossing his arms when Erica started crying, cackling at the same time.

“Derek,” she gasped, taking gulping breaths as she tried to control her amusement.

“Did you really not have _anything_ to say about that?”

Derek frowned, looking at Stiles questioningly.

“Why would I? It’s a beautiful name,” he said slowly, eyebrows rising to his hairline when Erica fell into another fit of laughter.

“Oh, this is too great, way to go Stilinski, you finally tricked him into it!” she cried gleefully, smirking when Leonie suddenly gasped, her still subdued expression finally turning into a real smile.

“Oh my god, Daddy, you totally did!” she exclaimed, patting Stiles on the back before bending over and kissing Kara’s head.

“Don’t worry Kara, we are totally Team Jacob in this house so you don’t have anything to worry about!”

Derek’s frown deepened when Stiles suddenly exhaled sharply and started blushing, eyes looking anywhere but Derek as he wrung his hands.

“Derek my love, I swear I didn’t do it because of _that_!” he begged and Derek glared, not at all amused about not being let in on the joke.

“What do you mean by _that_ , exactly?” he asked and Leonie snorted.

“Papa, do you remember which book of the Twilight saga you found the most offensive?” she asked and Derek stared at her for a second, the expression on his face turning from confusion to recognition and then to something that could only be described as horrified as he stared at Stiles.

“You named our daughter after a _Twilight_ book?!”, he exclaimed and Stiles gulped.

“Uhm … ooops?”

For a moment, everyone in the room stared at Derek, waiting for him to say something else.

Derek didn’t say something else. Instead, he started laughing.

It was genuine, joyful laughter and Stiles was certain he had never heard a more beautiful sound.

They were going to be ok.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My lovelies, I hope no one seriously thought I was going to kill that baby ... however, Derek was going to lose his Alpha status and (taking a page from the Jeff Davis rulebook) I figured this was the most realistic way to do it, given how high-risk the entire pregnancy was from the beginning. 
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me through the story, even the month-long absence due to real-life obligations.
> 
> One more chapter left: a Pack-Thanksgiving.


	18. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The slightly sappy ending, just in time for Thanksgiving

_Epilogue_

There were many things Derek and Stiles were grateful for at Thanksgiving of 2035.

Baby-carriers, for one thing, which allowed them to actually put their human twin to sleep on occasion (Stiles had been expecting Kara to scream all night long, like their other two werewolf children, but Maggie was definitely giving her a run for her money).

They also, in Stiles’ humbled opinion, made his husband look particularly gorgeous.

Sleep was also a particularly big item on the list, a luxury that, at least for the adults in the Hale house, rarely happened longer than an hour or so these days.

Big siblings were a never-ending blessing, since Derek was pretty sure he would have never had time for a shower ever again if Leonie, Noah, and Cas hadn’t volunteered to watch the babies so often a soon as they got home from their respective schools.

Then there were grandparents, aunts, and uncles, the people that made it possible for them to spend one on one time with their older children, even if it was just to sit down with them for half an hour and talk to them about their day without always keeping one ear trained on the nursery.

Both fathers would forever be grateful for trained doctors who knew about the supernatural, not only because of the events that had transpired at their babies’ birth, but also because, in the weeks afterwards, Ethan stopped by as often as he could, making sure that the children were developing well.

Stiles felt torn about this constant need for reassurance – on the one hand, they had already been through this stage three times before and should have been well-seasoned parenting veterans at this point.

On the other hand he still occasionally woke up drenched in sweat and with a lump in his throat so big it was threatening to choke him, so all in all Ethan’s regular visits weren’t putting too much of a damper on his parenting ego.

As they went around the table before the big feast at Scott’s house, however, the one thing Derek and Stiles were most grateful for this year were the two babies that were currently nestled in their proud grandparents’ arms.

Two babies who both were healthy, happy, perfect, and alive.

Not that anyone would have actually needed to say it out loud and quite frankly, Stiles was grateful for that as well, certain that no one would have needed big, salty tears on their Turkey-dinner.

Thinking about the fact that it could have been only one baby, or that he could have well ended up a single father that day _without_ the onset of a panic attack was still a work in progress but every bottle, every diaper, every spat-out pacifier was a reassurance, an anchor keeping him – and Derek – away from succumbing to dark thoughts.

The nightmares would go away eventually, but their children would not.

Well, they would, to College or whatever else they wanted to do, whether it was travelling the world, opening a bakery, or moving into the wild for a while to connect with their inner wolf (a possibility that, in Cas’ case, was definitely in the realm of the possible, as far as Stiles was concerned).

Maybe they would have their own families one day, give him and Derek a ton of grandchildren (or not, whatever would make them happy was fine with him, really) and, most importantly, accomplish whatever they set their minds to.

Derek grasped his hand under the table and stroked his knuckles gently; a soft smile on his face when he looked at him and Stiles realized that he was tearing up.

Then again, Derek was clearly trying to blink tears away himself, so Stiles smiled right back at him, squeezing his hand in return.

“What are you thankful for Noah-Boa?” the Sheriff, who was still on the mend from his surgery but steadily improving, asked his grandson and Noah’s gaze flickered towards his fathers briefly before he slowly held up his arm.

“I’m happy that I broke my arm this year,” he decided and Stiles could feel Derek’s hand clench around his as he reached out his other hand to grasp Noah’s shoulder.

“Why is that?” he asked, aware that he sounded a little shaky, and Noah blushed.

“If I hadn’t broken my arm we wouldn’t have met Uncle Ethan and Uncle Aiden and Leonie says that would have been very bad,” he explained, glancing at his older sister, who nodded seriously.

“That’s … you’re very right Noah,” Derek finally managed and Noah beamed at his father before turning around and glaring at Cas, who had used Noah’s brief distraction to steal a sizeable chunk of the Mac’n’Cheese casserole straight from his plate and was trying to hide the evidence in his mouth via chipmunk style.

Jackson coughed, a blush spreading across his cheeks as he draped his arm around Aiden.

“I’m also grateful that Noah broke his arm. Well …” he amended, flashing Derek and Stiles an apologetic grin, “of course I’m not grateful about the part with the actual arm-breaking, which, by the way, you better not repeat that young man, just so you know, but because of this,” he said, holding up his hand with a smirk.

“That _better_ be an engagement ring and _not_ a wedding ring! My children will never forgive you if you eloped without any of us!” Stiles gulped, staring between Jackson and Aiden as if they had grown two heads and mirroring the rest of the pack adults quite effectively.

Aiden barked a nervous laugh.

“Lydia has been subtly hinting at wedding-planning activities for months now, there is no universe in which we would take that opportunity away from her,” he said, grinning when Leonie, who was sitting next to Lydia, poked her excitedly.

“Can I help? Can we make it a princess wedding?” she exclaimed, smile widening when Jackson’s older two girls nodded immediately.

“Yes Daddy, a princess wedding!” Josie beamed and Jackson laughed, holding out his arms for all three of his daughters.

“Daddy’s already got three princesses and that’s really all I need,” he said gently and Josie frowned in contemplation.

“Well Daddy … how about a pirate wedding?”

As the rest of the pack children (to Lydia’s anti-gender-stereotyping horror) immediately began to suggest boy-appropriate themes for a wedding (knights, dinosaurs, and astronauts among them) Derek leaned over and kissed Stiles softly, stroking his cheekbones with his fingers as he rested their foreheads together.

“I’m grateful for you,” he said quietly and Stiles nodded earnestly.

“Ditto Derek – more than you will ever know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I am thankful for you dear readers!
> 
> As someone mentioned in the comments, there are still some loose ends for me to tie up so we are not quite done in this verse yet (though I am pretty sure there won't be anymore of it in 2014. Never say never, but I doubt it). In the meantime, if you ever want to talk head-canons with me, feel free to say hi on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/blog/kaliopeshipsit
> 
> So, with 99 percent probability, we'll be back in 2015 with the following stories (differing in length but I'm pretty sure I'm done with the 80Ks ;) ) (in chronological order):
> 
> \- The One Where Derek and Stiles get together   
> \- The One With the Twilight-Sparkle-Wood-Seduction-Gone-Wrong/Interrogation Room-Roleplay  
> \- The One With key events from the mpreg fics from Stiles' point of view, as frequently promised/requested  
> \- The One With Jackson and Aiden  
> \- The One With Leonie's first date  
> \- The One With the Talk  
> \- The One With the first Grandbaby  
> \- The One With the Empty Nest Syndrome  
> \- The Final One
> 
> Have a wonderful holiday season everyone!


End file.
